Stargazer
by I.-.-.I Kuroyagi I.-.-.I
Summary: Under the light of the stars, he dreamed about what the war took away from him. In the darkness of the night, he swore to eliminate every single person responsible for such atrocity. With a chance to fulfill his oath, he stalks in the darkness, preying on each target that made the future the Hell he had to endure and escape. It all begun with a wish to a falling star. Next-gen fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.**

**I do own the idea for the fic though.**

**AN: I seriously don't know what my aim with this story is… I guess I just want to experiment with something new and see how it would go if I get out of my comfort zone… or I just feel like writing and this is what came up... or maybe, the third option, I got bored of what I was currently writing and tried to do something else. *thinks* Yes, the last one seems plausible enough. *nods*  
**

**If it's liked, I will post another chapter… if it isn't, well, it was a nice one-shot.**

**Now, to the story...**

* * *

**Stargazer.**

"Why do you wish to join, boy?" Makarov asked kindly, wanting to know why this young man in his office, who requested for a personal audience with him, wished to join Fairy Tail.

"It's irrelevant but… a man told me this is the best place to start over." A blue-haired man in his late teens answered simply, waving a hand in the air while the other remained inside his pocket. His eyes were a chestnut brown and his hair was at neck-length, with one fringe covering his right eye. He was wearing a dark-blue suit with a white shirt underneath, a formal black tie keeping his collar together. It looked like some kind of uniform but it didn't seem from around Fiore.

"A man, you say?" The old man asked in curiosity, now intrigued about the one behind this wizard's decision to enlist in Fairy Tail. "Who?"

"I cannot say… sorry." The youngster replied gloomily, seemingly disappointed with this.

"I understand, don't worry." The old man caught up with this and nodded slowly. He normally wouldn't accept such an answer from someone as mysterious as this boy, but since the boy seemed to have regrets have not telling, he let it pass. If he was right, the kid was going to come clean after a certain period of time. "Can you at least tell me if he's related to my guild?"

"I… don't know." He lowered his head in thinking, narrowing his eyes as they stared at the wooden floor in wonder. "He told me to protect someone… nothing else."

'_Protect someone…?'_ One of Makarov's eyebrows rose in question. "Who would that someone be?"

The young man bit his lower lip in conflict, knowing he was pushing it too far with so many blank answers. "…I-"

"You cannot say, huh?" Makarov commented with a low chuckle, finding the boy's situation to be amusing. He could feel the young man had no ill-will in him or planned for something that could bring danger to his guild despite the unclear or blank answers. He jumped from his seat to his desk and extended a hand to the young man, slightly surprising him with his action. "Doesn't matter, boy, you're welcome to join." His eyes flickered for a second into a stern glare. "I'll be watching you though."

"A-aye, I've got no problems with that." The young man answered shakily, extending his own hand to shake the old man's already extended one with an awkward movement of his arm. "I-I'm sorry, I'm a bit nervous…"

The old Master chuckled again, breaking his glare instantly and nodding. "I can see that, yes," he gave the youngster a kind and harmless glance. "What's your name, boy?"

The boy opened his mouth to answer and heaved a tired sigh instead. "Y-yeah, my name is…"

* * *

_Sometime later…_

"Where do you want it?" Mirajane asked kindly, holding the stamp in front of her while waiting for the blue-haired mage to make up his mind.

"W-where… you say…?" The young man looked around and then at the white-haired woman again, feeling like there were too many people staring at him at the moment. Maybe it was him having some slight paranoia. He removed his jacket and rolled up his left sleeve to the shoulder, pointing at the top with one finger. "There… I guess."

"Okay, if you're sure~." The barmaid beamed in amusement, finding the new guy's nervousness to be cute. She pressed the stamp against the guy's shoulder and gasped, noticing she forgot to ask him another question. "O-oh, sorry… I forgot to ask of which color you wanted it."

The young man's eyes widened slightly at the late news, shifting his gaze to the guild mark place on him and finding it to be changing colors randomly. "W-why's it doing that?"

"I-I think it's trying to decide on its own…?" Honestly, she had no idea. She never forgot to ask such question until today.

The young man of blue-haired nodded slowly and continued to watch the shifting guild mark, silently praying for it to stay in a color that wasn't too embarrassing to show whenever he had to reveal his affiliations. Pink, red, green, blue, gray, black, yellow, purple… and it continued. "O-oh…"

And it suddenly stopped…

"O-okay… that's not… bad…?" Mira whispered to herself, staring at the dark purple mark on the man's shoulder with a small trickle of sweat falling down her brow. "I can change it if you want…?"

"I-I think it isn't…?" The guy answered slowly, a bit bothered by the resemblance of such color to something else. He rolled down his sleeve and put his jacket on again, giving a slow nod to the barmaid in appreciation. "I-It's okay… it fits somehow…"

"If you say so…" The barmaid scratched her left cheek in trouble and sighed, saving the stamp under the counter before offering an apologetic smile to the new wizard. "Would you like to eat or drink something? It's my treat for what happened."

"…a glass of water." The young man murmured, not really wanting anything else or feeling like taking advantage of the situation. He waved the woman's words about asking for anything he would like and gave a small smile. "Water is fine."

"Here you go then." Mira looked under the counter for a glass, grabbed a jug with some water and poured it in, presenting the newbie with his order. She gave a small smile in return. "Fresh and cold, unless you want it some other way."

The young man drank the water in one go and heaved out a content sigh, nodding in appreciation while his hand left the empty glass back on the counter. "It was good, thank you."

"You're welcome." Mirajane looked around at the sneaky glances thrown by her guildmates and shook her head in amusement. They were really curious whenever someone new joined the guild and since this wizard joined by talking privately to Makarov, they were ten times more curious than ever. She leaned on the counter and moved the glass away, maintaining her small smile while addressing the newbie. "What's your name?"

"Uh…? My name…?" The young man repeated slowly, not knowing why the white-haired woman wanted to know his name. He shook his head in his mind. He was part of the guild now; of course she would want to know his name. "Yes, my name… uh… my name is-"

"WE'RE BACK!"

"Aye!"

"Oi Natsu, you don't have to yell every time you're back!" Macao complained gruffly, holding his pained head after the loud yell from the pink-haired man close to the entrance.

"Hah! Serves you right for being wasted, old man." Wakaba mocked next to him, flinching after the yell just as his friend but trying to keep a cool exterior.

"How did the job go, Natsu?" Mirajane asked interestedly to the Dragon Slayer, seeing him walk to the bar with his feline companion on his shoulder. He took a stool next to the silent newbie and grinned widely.

"It was awesome!" Natsu started excitedly, telling all the details about his latest job without paying attention to the fixed stare the guy next to him was giving him. He eventually took notice, but not because of the stare. He smelled something off in the place. His neck turned and his eyes fell on the new guy, slightly throwing him off balance when he started sniffing the air around him. "…who are you?"

"E-eh?" The blue-haired man asked lamely, shifting his gaze to the counter and avoiding all eye contact. "I-I'm… no one in special…"

"Uh? But you smell like-" The pink-haired was going to continue but the sudden run from the newbie towards the entrance made him stop. Everyone stared blankly at the blue-haired guy that darted towards the exit before turning their heads and eyes to the Dragon Slayer, wondering what he did to scare the guy off. "What?"

"You know it's wrong to sniff people, Natsu." Happy chirped after a moment of silence, sighing at his foster father's actions.

"O-Oi! I didn't do anything wrong…" The guy said defensively, sweating nervously when he saw Mira's reproaching pout aimed at him. "Mira?"

"What are you waiting for? Go and apologize." She ordered, crossing her arms and turning around with her mind laughing at her next words. "If you don't, there will be no food for you."

"W-whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?" Natsu's face paled at the implications. He stood up from his seat and dashed to the exit without missing a heart-beat, but missing his friend Happy in his hurry. "W-wait! New guy! I'm sorry!"

"You're evil, Mira." Happy rolled his tongue as he said it, chuckling in amusement.

"I know~." The barmaid replied in between giggles. She rationalized that, since the new guy seemed to be really shy around people, it would be best to send someone his way to make him open up. And who was better than the friendly Dragon Slayer?

* * *

_Outside…_

"Hey! New guy! Where are you?" Natsu yelled to the top of his lungs, racing through the streets of Magnolia in search of the blue-haired guy. People were staring weirdly at him, but he didn't care. He was hungry and that guy was his ticket to flamed-meat. "D-dammit, I'm too hungry for this…"

"I-I'm sorry for that…" He heard a shaky voice behind him.

"Uh?" And turning around, he found the person he was looking for. He was still slightly nervous about being sniffed it seems, if his shaking hands and legs were anything to go-by. "Sorry? Wait, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sniffed you like that."

"D-don't worry about it…" The blue-haired guy murmured, closing his eyes to forget everything that happened. "I-I'm not very good with people… new people in special."

"Hehehehe, so you're shy, huh?" Natsu snickered and grinned in amusement, thinking good of the new guy for the moment. He stepped closer and patted the man on the shoulder, snickering some more when the guy cowered from the touch. "Relax, man, ain't gonna burn you."

"I-I hope so… heh…" The man snorted quietly and remained silent, not knowing what else to say.

"You're new to the guild, right?" The Dragon Slayer asked suddenly, remembering he had never seen the man before. "What's your name?"

"M-my name…" The blue-haired man repeated, realizing he didn't tell his name to the woman inside the guild either. "My name is Jonah."

"Jonah…? No last name?" Natsu asked a bit confused.

"Sorry, I cannot reveal it." The man, now introduced as Jonah, whispered sadly, confusing the Dragon Slayer even more.

"Why would you hide-?"

"Natsu!" Said pink-haired boy was going to ask his question bluntly but the sharp call of his name made him turn around and see the rest of his team catching up with him, Gray being the one to call out to him and reach him first, smacking him at the top of the head for running ahead of them earlier. "You stupid flame-brain, we told you to wait up!"

"H-hey, you asshole! It's not my fault you're all slow!" Natsu countered angrily, sending the Ice wizard flying with a right hook to the chin. "And get outta my face, ice-pick!"

"Y-you feet-warmer!" Gray shouted as he took hold of the pink-hair's arm and used it to bring the guy close to his fist, smashing it swiftly against his face. "And shut up!"

'_Is this… okay…?' _The blue-haired man asked to himself, seeing the two wizards beating the hell out of each other even though they were part of the same guild. It was strange to him, even if from the looks of it they weren't really giving it their all. He was going to voice out his concerns when he spotted two more people walking to the group, his eyes widening in complete shock when he noticed who one of the persons was. _'D-dammit…! I-I need to hide…!'_

"Natsu, Gray, stop right now." Erza ordered the two idiots when she got closer to the brawl, seeing Gray holding back a fist while Natsu remained in the air with a kick about to be delivered. They paled at her frowning face and stood up correctly, giving a small bow of apology for being fighting again. "That's better."

"When will you guys learn?" Lucy whispered with some annoyance, a hint of amusement escaping her bad mood and letting her show a small smile at her friends' antics. Even if they were bothersome whenever they got like this, she couldn't help but be happy that they didn't change. She looked behind them though, and spotted a flash of light that made her close her eyes for a second, the others doing the same when they got blinded by the sudden brightness.

"Sorry for that." The man standing in the middle of the light said gravely, making the light disappear and let his form show to the wizards. The young man of blue-haired was now wearing a rather flashy armor, if not dark too, covering most of the body with metal and black cloths around the joints and abdomen. It also had a cape strapped to the belt around the waist, and clawed ends on both fingers and feet, a completely sealed helmet covering his face from view and leaving the new arrivals in wonder of his identity. "I... I don't like new people…"

"Huh? What? Who are you?" Gray asked bluntly, not liking the guy standing with them even though he never met him before.

"Oh right! Guys, this is Jonah!" Natsu moved quickly and slung an arm over the new guy's shoulders, making him more nervous with the contact. "He joined today so he's a bit nervous around people."

"I'm… I'm shy… to put it simply…" Jonah murmured quietly, averting his gaze from those of the wizards in front of him. He shied even more when he caught a glimpse of them staring intently at his helmet. "P-please don't stare."

"You joined today?" Lucy asked cautiously, understanding the new guy's position and trying not to stare too much at his outfit. He used magic to change clothes just now, didn't he? Just like her friend standing next to her. "How's it going so far?"

"I-It's been… good… yes, I had a nice glass of water earlier." The guy answered with his almost chronic stuttering, making the members of Team Natsu blink at him before laughing in their own ways. He sweatdropped hardly, staring blankly at the group with no idea of what to say. "Uh… what's funny?"

"N-nothing, don't worry about it." The blonde said in between laughs, waving a hand in dismissal while the new guy kept on staring. She stopped, as well as the others, and looked at the armored wizard with a sincere welcoming smile. "Welcome to Fairy Tail, Jonah."

The guy now looked at the group with a bit more of ease, slightly suppressing his nervousness at the sight of smiles. It was… so rare to him. He nodded sharply and smiled behind his helmet.

"Thank you… I hope to get along with everyone, if possible." The wizard said mysteriously before letting a purple glow surround his body, the wizards staring at him in surprise as he just used his strange magic to disappear from the scene by flying away in a random direction.

Lucy stared at the departing wizard with no clear expression on her face, her mouth opening after a moment to comment on it. "Okay, that was…"

"Weird." Both Gray and Natsu said plainly, really irked with the guy's flashy leaving. They turned around, hands in their pockets and started for the guild, bickering lightly on the way there while Lucy remained behind with Erza.

"Are you okay, Erza?" The blonde asked curiously, seeing her friend staring off in the direction the wizard took off.

"Yes, I'm fine." The knight replied slowly, narrowing her eyes when she thought she spotted something off in the man's waist cape, following his disappearing form to the forests of the west. _'There's something familiar in that suit…'_ There was something in her mind asking her to go and follow him, but, seeing as they just returned from a job and she had to report to the Master, she let it slide for another time. "Let's go, Lucy."

"Uhm, sure." And she followed her with the other two to the guild, going inside and taking a seat around their table with their initial talk being the job they just did. It was a fairly normal chat between them until Mirajane appeared with their usual dishes… except for Natsu's.

"But Mira~!" The pink-haired protested with teary eyes, clinging to the barmaid's dress. "I already apologized!"

"He isn't here now, so I doubt it." Mira answered as best she could, trying to pry the boy's hands from her dress.

"Who are you talking about?" Gray asked a bit curious, enjoying the torture placed on his friend/rival but wanting to know the reason for it.

"About the new guy," the barmaid informed with some problem, getting tired of the Dragon Slayer's insistence and stopping him with a firm chop attack to the back of his neck. He fell to the floor unconscious, much to everyone's surprise. She turned to the rest of the team and continued. "He joined today… haven't you seen him?"

"…oh! You mean the guy with the armor?" Lucy asked as she remembered the shy new guy they found on the streets with Natsu.

"…armor? No, he was wearing a suit," Mira revealed to them, her eyes looking at the ceiling in wonder. "And he had blue hair… I think…"

"…a suit and blue hair?" Erza questioned curiously, now paying more attention to the conversation instead of her cake.

The barmaid nodded, smiling mischievously when she imagined why the knight suddenly felt interested. "Yes, but he had no tattoo on his face~."

The face of the woman matched her hair for a second before she growled lightly in annoyance and returned to her food. "Shut up, Mira."

"His name's Jonah, right?" Gray commented while taking a bite from his ice cream, paying bits of attention to the conversation.

"He didn't get to tell me his name, so I wouldn't know." Mira shrugged and returned to her position, giving one last smile to the team. "Anyway, I'm sure he will return sooner or later."

"He has to take jobs after all." Gray commented simply, taking another bite from his dessert. If the guy was a wizard and he joined the guild, he surely needed to work and get some money. "I don't think he lives out in the forest."

"Somehow, I think that's just what he does." Natsu said in between groans, rubbing the sore back of his neck as he sat down on his seat again. He slumped on the table and gazed at the food the others were having while he continued. "He smells like the forest."

"Really? That's… kinda sad…" Lucy whispered to herself, imagining how rough it would be to live out in the wilderness with no walls to protect you from anything like animals, monsters or the weather. She glanced at the two guys on the table, their eyes turning to her when they felt her stare, and said. "Why don't you let him stay with one of you guys?"

Gray dropped the spoon he was using.

Natsu's eyes widened in disbelief.

And Erza chuckled in amusement.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

"I made it…" A man of blue-hair wearing the armor of earlier, except for the helmet, was talking to a small piece of paper in his hands, looking at it with some mix between affection and nostalgia. "It's… like you used to tell me… pretty friendly… and warm…"

He was under the shade of a tree, quietly sitting against the trunk while gazing at the paper that was a picture in reality, showing three people standing in front of an old building.

There were two grown-ups standing in the middle with a little newborn being cradled by the person to the right.

He ran a finger over the person to the left, a man of hair like his, and his eyes softened more for a moment when changing his attention to the woman to the right.

"Dad… I'll finally get to meet her…"

* * *

_Close to the place…_

"Where do you think he is?" Gray shot to his companion once they were deep inside the forest, seeing the Dragon Slayer moving branches aside and sniffing the air around them to find the missing guy. "Oi Natsu…"

"Shut up, I'm trying to… find… him…" Natsu smelled the air around them and stopped, looking everywhere with his eyes and stopping. He gazed to the higher branches and pointed a finger to the highest one. "Over there."

"Sweet…" The Ice wizard mumbled under his breath. "Hey! New guy! Or Jonah, whatever your name! Come down!"

There was a flash of light from the top in answer, and soon after the young man dropped from the higher branch and landed on the ground with little trouble, dusting the back of his clothes before addressing the mages with his helmet back on. "What can I do for you?"

"Hey, drop the helmet, no need to be shy with us." Natsu reminded the guy with an eyebrow twitching in slight annoyance.

"S-sorry, I don't want to…" The guy answered nervously, looking down to not face the stares head-on.

"Hey, don't listen to him, you can keep the armor and helmet on if you want." Gray told him flatly, crossing his arms and inspecting the guy's form. He could tell he was really nervous with people, even if he had his armor on. But that was for later, he had to ask something else. "Where are you staying at?"

"U-uh? I'm staying here… I think." Jonah looked around at the trees and bushes with his head moving slowly. He turned to the mages and nodded. "Y-yes, I'm staying here for the time being."

"Sorry, but that's a no," the pink-haired announced with his arms crossed in a cross fashion. He pointed a thumb over his shoulder to the town behind and rested one hand on his hip. "You're coming with us and staying with Gray until you get a place yourself."

"What!? Who said I was letting him stay?" The Ice wizard asked a bit miffed of the Dragon Slayer's words. Who did he think he was to be letting a random new guy stay in someone else's house as if it was his? But then he sighed. "But yeah, knowing how Natsu's house is… it's better if you go to my place."

"Hey! My house is perfectly fine!"

"It's a pigsty!"

"Your house sucks!"

"At least it's clean!"

"Hah! You admitted it! It sucks!"

"W-why you!"

"Both… please… _stop_." Jonah ordered them quietly, laying one hand on his helmet as he tried to not yell at them for the stupidity of their argument. He sighed and looked at the two, seeing them looking at him with expecting stares. "I… I can get a place on my own… if that's what is troubling you…"

* * *

_Back at the guild…_

"…but he feels safer if he's out there in the forest." Natsu repeated gloomily to the girls, munching a piece of flamed meat given to him by Mira.

"And that's it." Gray concluded for him, his arms crossed over the table with his head resting over them. He heaved a tired sigh and closed his eyes. "The guy wants to be alone, let him be."

"Okay, I heard enough." Erza said after the guys' finished with their little story, standing up firmly and marching towards the entrance with one hand dragging a panicking Lucy. "Come with me, Lucy."

"W-why are you dragging me!?"

* * *

_Back in the forest…_

"I remember telling you guys I'm fine," Jonah started out a bit annoyed, saving the piece of paper that was on his hand inside his pockets, and standing up from his position against the tree, revealing himself to the new presences that showed up in his little space of tranquility. "Why do you insist… on…?"

"S-sorry but we cannot let you here on your own." Lucy spoke first in sake of preventing her friend from ordering the new guy around. If he was as shy as he was showing to be, then it would be a bad idea to try forcing him to do anything. "C-can't you at least stay in a hotel…? Or in one of the guild's rooms…?"

"N-no… I can't." The armored wizard answered hastily, averting his gaze from the girls, deciding it was best to find a deeper and loner part where he could rest in the forest. "P-please, let me be."

"That's not an option." Erza informed sternly, halting the man in his actions and making him look at her in questioning. "You'll come with us and stay in the guild until you can-"

"I said, no." Jonah repeated seriously, not paying attention to the shocked face of the blond wizard or her waving hands which were clearly telling him to not push it. He shook his head. "I don't want to stay in the guild or at any other place, the forest is-"

"-dangerous, you don't know what kinds of threats linger in this place." The red-head completed for him, narrowing her eyes when she sensed he didn't care about that detail.

"I faced worse things… I can take care of myself." The man insisted through gritted teeth, somehow getting quickly angered with the conversation. "Return to the guild before I lose my patience."

"Is that a threat?" Erza asked with her eyes narrowing even more.

"What if it is?" Jonah asked in kind, clenching his fists to show his building anger.

"G-guys… n-no need to fight…" Lucy pleaded nervously, the tension in the air weighing her down and making her knees buckle. "P-please…?"

Faster than the eyes could see, Erza lunged and tried to punch some sense into the man's head with her right, but Jonah caught the fist with his left hand, pressing it hardly and using it as leverage while raising his right leg midway to stop a kick to his sides made by her left leg. A flash of light occurred in both fighters' free hands and what Lucy saw in the end of the short scuffle was the armored wizard holding a pistol at Erza's face while the woman had a sword against Jonah's neck.

"You're fast." The new guy commented stoically, his eyes narrowed behind his helmet as he replayed the scene in his mind.

"So are you." The knight mimicked, hiding her astonishment at seeing another wizard able to summon weapons during a fast-paced fight. "Who trained you?"

"My dad." Jonah answered dryly, sending the gun back to his pocket dimension and releasing his hold on the woman's fist when she lowered her leg and sent her own sword away. He straightened up and nodded to her in acknowledgement. "I can see the stories he told me about you were true."

"Do I know him?" Erza asked emotionlessly, trying to keep her curiosity in check while Lucy dropped to the floor in exhaustion, not standing the previous tension or the fight that almost broke out.

'_More than you think.'_ The armored wizard thought regretfully, turning around and leaving the area, completely missing the shocked faces of the two girls he left behind. "I'll try to find a place to sleep here for today… tomorrow I'll look for a place in the town."

And he vanished in the dense mass of trees and bushes, not even his footsteps could be heard in the distance even though he was wearing armor.

"E-Erza…?" Lucy called dumbly, standing up and keeping her eyes where the new guy was just standing a few second ago. She thought she saw wrong but… "W-wasn't that…?"

What she spotted and seemed familiar to her earlier when he flew away in the middle of the streets.

The side view of a skull with a wizard's hat.

"C-Crime Sorciere's guild mark…" Erza muttered in unease, remembering all the other traits from the man and how similar he was to a certain someone in the same independent guild.

* * *

_At another location…_

"Someone really went all out in here." Meredy commented in slight awe, looking at the holes and slashes made to the walls while she ran a finger over them to check on something else. She brought her hand close to her face and rubbed her fingers together, seeing the red liquid on them falling apart with little resistance. "The blood is already dry so it must've happened some days ago."

"I don't get it…" Jellal voiced out as he inspected the body lying in the middle of the thrashed room. The walls were holed with burn markings around the edges, blood was sprawled everywhere, tables were broken and several other belongings littered the ground. It seemed like a normal murder to the common eye. "Why would someone kill Crawford with such hate?"

"Uh? What do you mean?" The pink-haired girl asked curiously, cleaning her fingers with her cape and walking to stand next to the older wizard, seeing the same as him.

The former Chairman of the Magic Council lied on the ground with a hole on his forehead and several bleedings cuts spread across his body, some even deep enough to separate the limbs from the torso. He had his mouth open in agony and his eyes white in fear.

"Whoever's responsible for this, tortured Crawford to the brink of death before finally ending his misery." The Master of Crime Sorciere explained in wonder, standing up from his kneeling position next to the corpse and heading towards the door with the girl following close behind. "It was as if he or she hated the old man's existence to the core."

"So… we're going to try and find whoever did this?" Meredy questioned, looking back at the house they left from afar while trying to catch up with her leader.

"That we are." Jellal confirmed seriously, thinking about the next stop they should make before daring to inform Fairy Tail of these occurrences. "We should check on the others first, see if it was a random murder or if…"

"…if someone's targeting members from the old Magic Council?" The pink-haired finished for him, gazing at the ground in worry at the implication. If it was as they thought, then Jellal could also be a target in the future.

"Yes…" The man looked down too as they advanced, trying to come up with a name, a face, someone who could be responsible for this, but there were just too many people that hated the former Council. Many who hated him as well for what he did in the past. His head jerked back up and he fixed his eyes ahead, knowing where to head to now. "Come on, we need to check on Yajima-san next."

"Aye!"

* * *

_Close to Michello's house…_

It was late at night.

The moon and stars were hidden behind the cloak of dense clouds and the darkness covered every single corner that the artificial lights couldn't reach with their dim glows.

The day went by with no major difficulties and he was now perched up atop a house's roof with his eyes set on the old man walking inside a house with a cane to help him, complaining about the distance between one place and the other before going to sit on a chair he prepared earlier with some papers and other trivial things.

The man stalking from the outside grinned in amusement, accommodating himself to sit on the rooftop while he spun a gun with one finger, not bothering to hide his presence due to the darkness of the night and his armor.

"If memory serves right…" The black-clothed man murmured in between cackles. "Tonight, I'll play a game of cat and mouse."

He stopped the spinning of his gun and pointed its sights at the old man inside the house, who was now writing on the papers sprawled over the desk.

"Though, I wonder what happens when the mouse has a gun."

Laughing madly at his own joke, he vanished from the rooftop and broke into the former Councilor's home.

Offering a song of wicked laughter and pained screams for the darkness of the world.

**To be continued…?**

* * *

**AN: So... if you managed to get to this point... can you tell me what you think of it? Loved it? Hated it? Want me to erase it? I can do that if anyone thinks it was a bad story. *shrugs* I really have no hope for this little one-shot. *sighs***

**Anyway~**

**Saludos.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.**

**I do own the idea for the fic though.**

**AN: *sighs* Okay, this chapter was written because ****someone**** told me it would be cool to see this happening in the story… plus, I think it fits… somehow… *shrugs* You know what? I'm just winging this… there's a major idea of what can/will happen in the story but the rest is up to assumptions. Oh, but I do inform you all, this happens before the Sun Village Arc and after the Grand Magic Games.**

* * *

**Stargazer.**

_The next day…_

"Ah~!" Lucy heaved out contently, walking down the road next to the canal towards Fairy Tail with her arms stretched out to the skies. She had a nice night of sleep and today she was as good as new, ready to face the world again with her spirits high. "I wonder what job we'll do today."

"H-hey! A-are you alive, kid!?"

"H-here, help me get him out of the water!"

"Uh?" Her attention drifted to another point when she heard the voices of the two guys that usually greeted her whenever she walked close to the little canal, her eyes widening in shock at the sight of the new guy from yesterday being taken out of the water with his clothes in poor condition. "I-Isn't that Jonah?"

"O-oh! Lucy-chan!" One of the fishermen called, struggling to keep the boat floating while he and his partner dragged the man of blue-hair out of the water. "D-do you know this man?"

_An hour later…_

"You say you found him like this?" Gray asked curiously, eyeing the unconscious man lying on his teammate's bed while he and the rest of the team waited for him to wake up. He could see some cuts and bruises on the man's arms but they weren't anything to be fretting about. "Someone beat him up good."

"He still smells like the forest so… maybe he got into a fight with vulcans?" Natsu offered silently, standing close to the door of the apartment with his arms crossed, and his eyes checking the wounds too.

"Those wounds are too small and precise to have been made by vulcans." Erza pointed out as she finished bandaging the last of the guy's wounds with the blond girl, taking the chance to give the man's face a good look. She didn't get to see anything the day before with him shying away under his armor. "He got into a fight with another wizard."

"Hmmm…" The Ice wizard hummed in wonder, slightly irked about this man joining the guild and bringing troubles to their doorstep with him. He frowned and inspected the wounds closer, seeing most of them as the result of a close-quarters fight. "Most of the bruises are pretty small… it looks like he managed to dodge most of the attacks sent his way."

"Erza and he fought yesterday," Lucy shared with the others, surprising the boys while the mentioned woman only nodded absentmindedly. "He was pretty fast back then."

"S-so he's not a pushover…" _'And he has some guts.' _Gray commented slowly, thinking about how lucky the guy was for not getting pulverized badly by their short-tempered S-class friend.

"Yeah, he seemed like he could take care of himself."

And silence fell in the room.

"Hey, aren't you more curious about who did this to him?" The Dragon Slayer asked roughly, changing the subject, or better said, bringing up what should be the main concern of the group. "New guy or not, someone still attacked him and he's part of Fairy Tail."

"We need answers about who he is, why he is here, why he joined Fairy Tail…" Erza told them firmly, standing up from the bed with her eyes still inspecting the sleeping man's face. Many of his features were close to the other man of blue hair she knows, but it wasn't enough to draw some conclusions. What bothered her most was the armor he was wearing the day before, the familiar insignia stamped to the cape he wore around his waist-line. He surely was related to Crime Sorciere and Jellal, but in which way, she wanted to find out. "Let's wait for him to wake up."

She got silent nods of approval in answer.

* * *

_At Michello's place…_

"Can you see anything?" Jellal asked hurriedly to the person standing next to him inside the blood-stained room. He was rummaging through some documents while the person next to him checked the body hanging from the wall opposite to the door. "Meredy."

"It's the same we saw at Crawford's place." Meredy informed absently, tracing a gloved finger through the wounds inflicted on the half-cat former Councilor. She, as well as her partner, was disguised as a soldier, doing a small investigation of their own while the militia took care of the rest. They needed to find whoever did this atrocity before it could do the same to other people. "Only that this time, he nailed the old man to the wall first and then proceeded to torture him."

"I see…" The blue-haired man, having taken the appearance of a blond soldier he saw once during the fight in Crocus against the Dragons, nodded and continued to rummage through the documents sprawled on the floor, seeing many of them had nothing relevant to show him. He stopped when he caught sight of the words of a small letter though, taking it in his hands and reading it silently with eyebrows rising at every sentence. "Meredy, I have what we were looking for… let's go."

"Okay!" Relieved that their job inside the house was done, the young girl followed her Master outside, passing through several other legitimate soldiers who were keeping the people from eavesdropping, and heading towards the safety of the forests again. Now in the clear, they stopped and returned to their real forms, Meredy walking next to the man as he re-read the contents of the paper he found. "What does it say?"

"It's a response to a letter from the current Chairman to Michello," Jellal told slowly, turning the letter around to see the rest of its contents. "It's about Crawford's death and how it can be related to an occurrence from a few weeks ago."

"Uh? Related? Was it another killing?"

"No, it says 'I'm aware of the strange portal that opened shortly after the Games ended, but I don't see a connection between the death of our former leader and this anomaly'." His eyes narrowed in thinking. "Anomaly… I don't remember anything happening after the Games were over."

"Me neither." The girl ran a hand through her hair in wonder, her eyes widening when she realized something. "Hey, could this be related to the Eclipse Gate?"

"No, Natsu destroyed it, I remember it clearly." Jellal reminded the pink-haired as he continued to check over his memories. "After the gate was destroyed, everything that arrived here from the future and the past got sent back…" He shook his head. "It's unlikely someone remained behind."

"If you say so…" Meredy sighed in defeat. There were just more questions to answer with this new lead they got. "Let's return to Yajima-san's place, we have to protect him in case the one we're looking for attacks him next."

Jellal stared at the letter a moment longer and then saved it inside one of the inside pockets of his coat, nodding to the girl and urging her to lead the way. _'An anomaly… a killing spree… this doesn't make sense… who would target the members of the old Council? And why?'_

* * *

_Back to Magnolia…_

"_Remember, aim down the sight and always keep your finger on the trigger."_

"_Like this?"_

"_Yes, like that, also remember to see what you're shooting at before pulling the trigger."_

"_B-but… it's just the two of us, dad."_

"_Doesn't matter, you don't know when an innocent or a friend might show in your line of vision."_

"…_d-dad?"_

"_Yes?"_

"…_e-everyone is dead…remember?"_

"E-everyone… is… dead…" Jonah whispered in his sleep, squirming at the dream he was having and how he would rather forget the words he said. He could feel his consciousness returning and his mind starting to get back to work slowly, a hand coming to cover his eyes from the harsh light and his upper torso rising from whatever surface he was over to force him into waking up completely. He couldn't open his eyes with such strong light. "…it's morning already."

"Yes, it is."

He heard a voice confirm the information for him, making him open one eye to look at who was with him in the forest before he had to open the other one as well, both open wide in shock. He was not in the forest but inside a strangely cozy apartment, he wasn't on the cold ground but on a soft bed, and he wasn't alone as he thought, there were four other people with him.

"Are you okay?" And the one to talk to him was the blond girl he saw yesterday, sitting next to the bed with a worried glance shifting between him and the other person who was at arm's reach.

"I-I'm… fine… thank you." Jonah answered lamely, shrinking inside at the amount of people in the same room with him and more than anything, staring intently at him. He looked down to avoid the stares and then noticed of his own state, seeing several bandages wrapped around his torso and arms, feeling some covering his legs as well, and the only piece of clothing on him being his boxers. What happened while he was unconscious? Did he get into a fight or was he attacked without him even noticing it?

That was for later; right now he needed to do something else. He looked to the side shyly and pointed to a far wall, trying to hide his clear embarrassment at the situation. "C-can you please look away while I change?"

The wizards blinked a couple of times, trying to register what the guy said.

Until Gray spoke… "Look away? What are you? A girl?"

…and he was silenced by a fist…

"Hahaha! Serves you right, big mouth!"

…and then Natsu followed.

Taking the chance created by the red-haired woman, how the blond girl was looking at the mess in her place and how the other two were out for the moment, Jonah used his magic and changed into his regular clothes, knowing by experience that the use of armor while he was injured was not a wise decision. He breathed out a silent word of gratefulness and faced the wizards with a bit more confidence. "I'm dressed now."

"Good, you have manners, Jonah." Lucy complimented to the shy blue-haired, giggling in amusement when he faced the wall to hide his embarrassment and thanked her for her words. She sighed and pointed a finger to the dark-haired lying on the floor close to her table, seeing he already stripped of his shirt and trousers. "Unlike that other guy over there."

"H-hey! It's not like I do it on purpose!" Gray yelled in defense, recovering from the fist of earlier instantly just to do so.

"Whatever you say, Gray, put some pants on."

"Not again!"

"Jonah, that's your name, right?" Erza asked cautiously, seeing the guy turning to see her for a second before averting his gaze from meeting hers to look at the sheets covering the lower part of his body. He nodded slowly at her question. "Who gave it to you?"

Jonah remained silent for a moment, thinking over what he was asked and what he should answer. The time he took to think was enough to allow the Ice wizard get some clothes on and return to his seat while the Dragon Slayer tried to regain his bearings. He swallowed hard when he figured it would be best to tell the truth without entering into details. "…m-my mom, I think."

Gray quirked an eyebrow in curiosity; this guy couldn't be an orphan like all of them were, right? "Who's your mom?"

The man fell into silence again, thinking of his answer slowly before opening his mouth. "I-I don't know."

"You… don't know." The stripper repeated, his eyes now narrowing in suspicion. The time the man took to think of his answers was really irking him, it was as if he was hiding information on purpose. "Oi, shy or not, we need to know about you some more," he told him flatly. "We found you floating down the river this morning and you were in bad shape."

Jonah turned to look at the man in confusion. "…f-floating down the river?"

"Y-yeah and you were badly injured from what we got to see." Lucy added nervously, catching up to Gray's discomfort of the slow answers and taking the lead in the interrogation. If the new guy continued to be like that, a fight would break out and her apartment would suffer the consequences. "Don't you remember?"

"I-I don't… seriously…" The blue-haired answered in thought, recalling the small chat with the girls the day before and how he left to another secluded part of the forest. "I left to the north of the forest and stayed there all day… I didn't fight anyone."

"Man, you got served." Natsu commented from his position on the floor, using his arms to stand on his feet again and stare at the guy with an amused smirk. "You don't even remember what happened."

"I-I'm pretty sure I didn't fight anyone." The guy insisted, bringing a hand to rub his sore forehead. His mind was a mess, yes, but not enough to completely miss a part of his memories. At least, he hoped so. "I found a high branch in the forest and slept there…"

"Your wounds are cuts and bruises," Erza revealed to him, seeing him inspect his wounds again with a critical eye this time. "There were many and some were serious," her eyes narrowed when she thought about the other thing that caught her attention and that was making her distrust his claims of not fighting anyone the night before. "But you managed to lessen the damage by dodging the strikes sent your way."

"D-dodging…?" He stuttered, his gaze leaving the sight of his bandaged arms and torso to the wall at the other side of the room.

Something clicked in his mind.

His eyes opened wide in realization.

"_You followed me here!? Insistent moron!"_

"_Stop! This is not-!"_

"_Shut up!"_

'_W-what… was that…!?'_ Jonah thought slowly, shaken to the core when a sudden pain assaulted his mind and made him replay a bunch of words he traded with another person that he couldn't quite get the picture of. He saw himself in the forest, late at night, trailing behind someone who was escaping him… and then it was all black. He lowered his hand and shook his head, closing his eyes strongly to get rid of the pain in his head. "I-I…!"

"You remember now, don't you?" Erza sat on the bed and fixed the man with her eyes, expecting him to raise his head and look her way this time. He didn't. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know…!" The man snapped, slightly surprising the wizards around him. He clutched his head with both hands and tried to erase the burning pain that was searing his mind. "I-I… I remember following someone through the forest… some words… and then nothing…!" He covered his eyes with one hand and let the other fall to the sheets, taking them in his grasp and holding them strongly as he tried to suppress the heavy headache. "Y-yes… I fought someone… I don't know who… but I lost…"

"Tch… that sucks…" Natsu grumbled quietly, keeping his gaze on the blue-haired man and how he tried to keep his mind together. "If it weren't for the water, I could've sniffed the scent of that other guy in a second."

"You could always check the place where they fought, idiot." Gray reminded him, sighing tiredly at the drama happening before his eyes. This new guy was proving to be a real pain in the ass. "Nothing else? Not a name or anything?"

"N-no… I cannot even make sense of what I do remember." Jonah murmured apologetically, feeling the headache leaving bit by bit. He looked at the wizards and nodded in appreciation, moving his legs under sheets to get out of the bed. "I-If I remember anything else, I'll inform you about it."

"What do you think you're doing?" Erza asked him plainly, standing up from her sitting position on the bed and facing the guy who was now on his shaky feet. He continued to avoid her eyes despite the closeness of the two. "You need to rest."

"I-I'm fine, your treatment made most of the pain go away." And it was partly true, yes; he couldn't feel the cuts across his body or the bruises, unless he moved his extremities too fast or harshly. Like now. He flinched but hid it the best he could, taking a few steps forward towards the door of the apartment. "I need to check the city today… I said I was going to find a place to stay."

The red-haired knight eyed him for a moment and then got in his way again, bringing a hand to his shoulder to stop him from reaching the door. When he looked at her hand in wonder, she spoke. "Natsu, Gray, go to where Jonah says he stayed last night and try to find a trace of the person he fought."

"Ah? And what're you going to do?" Gray asked, standing up from his seat and silently agreeing to her order, even if it meant accompanying the dense Dragon Slayer.

"Oi, why do I have to go with him!?" Natsu complained, obviously. He didn't want to be near the stripper when he was supposed to do an important task. It wasn't really important, but it was Erza who commanded them to do it, and that meant one thing. Do it or suffer. "Why don't you come with us!?"

"Lucy, I need you to tell Master what happened and then help the guys with their task." The wizards' eyes turned to confusion, even those of the new guy. What was she going to do while the others worked on finding the culprit? She eyed him with narrowed eyes and tightened the hold she had on his shoulder. "I'll go with Jonah and help him jog his memory."

'_H-help me… j-jog my memory…?'_ Jonah thought in confusion, not understanding what the woman meant with that.

Though the others did understand, and their pale faces could only speak of one thing.

'_S-she's going to kill him...!'_

* * *

_West of Magnolia…_

"This place." Erza told the man out loud, stopping in the middle of a nice clearing with enough space for them to do what she wanted to do. She turned around and saw the blue-haired man standing a few feet from her, his gaze wary but still not meeting hers. "This place is excellent for what we have to do."

"U-uh? F-for what we have to do?" Jonah asked in cluelessness, still confused about the whole situation. He didn't understand anything back in the apartment and he didn't get any better with his thoughts on the way there. How was it that the woman wanted to help him with his memory? "What do you mean?"

She summoned a sword in answer, throwing the man completely off-balance when he saw the sharp blade being lifted and aimed at him. "If a strong hit to the head made you lose your memory, another hit will make it return."

'_H-h-h-h-how does that logic even work!?' _The blue-haired man thought in complete confusion, gaping when now he finally connected the dots and came to understand the pats of pity and silent good-byes from the other three wizards. His face paled. _'T-they knew and they still let her do this!?'_

"Stay still," Erza ordered sternly, getting in position to lunge at the man. "If you move, I might cut your head off."

"Wha-!?" He didn't have time to speak. In less than a second, the woman disappeared from his sight and reappeared behind him, aiming to him with the blunt side of her blade. He crouched and rolled back on the ground, letting her land on the place in which he was previously standing while he summoned a rifle and used it to block the next strike. She spun on her heels and brought her sword up, hitting now with the edge instead of the blunt when she noticed she got what she wanted. He clenched his teeth and forced his arms to remain still under the pressure of the attack, looking at the blade instead of the eyes of his opponent, which were glaring at him. "W-what are you doing!?"

"I didn't bring you here just to help you with your memory, Jonah," she said in the same tone she used earlier, pushing her sword harder against the man's steel rifle. "I brought you here because I have other questions for you."

"Q-questions?" The man repeated, pushing the sword aside and jumping back, the woman following his movements and slashing at him again. He blocked and pushed the blade once more, not jumping back but remaining on the same position for when she sent another slash his way. This time, he lowered his head and let the sword pass over it, using his legs to press forward and ram the knight with his shoulder. The action worked for she was pushed a meter away, and he took the chance of that distance to hold his weapon correctly and aim the barrel at her. Both fighters stopped. "What questions?"

"What's your relation to Crime Sorciere?" Erza asked straight to the point, catching the momentary look of astonishment the guy had before it returned to his normal façade, probably trying to come up with a way to ward off the subject or feign ignorance. "You know of what I'm talking about, don't play dumb with me." She summoned another sword and stood upright. "Your armor had the guild's insignia on its cape."

'…_I'm an idiot.' _Jonah thought in shame, mentally slapping himself for the huge mistake he made before returning his attention to the woman… who was not there… again. He lowered his rifle and looked over his shoulder, seeing and feeling her blade being pointed at the back of his neck, her stern gaze still demanding a clear and honest answer. "What makes you think I'll reveal what I know?"

"I have my ways." And to emphasize her point, she pressed the tip of her blade against his neck's skin, earning a quiet hiss from him and a slight flinch of his muscles. "Answer my question."

'_She really is as you told me…' _"Sorry, but I can't." The blue-haired man answered in amusement, thinking he could take the chance to do something new for a chance. He disappeared from sight, much to the knight's surprise, and reappeared a few meters ahead, facing her without his rifle. He narrowed his brown eyes at her form and let the light consume his body, showing him wearing the same armor she was talking about. "You will have to beat the answer out of me if you truly wish to know."

Erza was on him when she heard the word 'beat', slashing at the man with both her swords from the top right and seeing him block her with a pair of swords of his own that he summoned in the spur of the moment. She landed on the ground with her swords still clashing against his and forced them forward, feeling the man keeping his position despite her strength. He pushed her when he caught a slight change in her balance and managed to get her off of him, though, instead of pursuing with a flurry of slashes or stabs, he twirled on one leg and brought the other one up, kicking her on the chest to send her skidding several meters back.

She groaned at the strength of his kick but remained aware of her surroundings, turning around quickly to block a double stab to her shoulders when she sensed him trying to repeat the same action she pulled on him a moment earlier. She took a few steps back with him following her, keeping her swords locked with his to then moved them down, dragging the man down with his swords while she side-stepped to the left and let him fall, raising one knee to strike him in the gut. He gasped at the sudden loss of air but endured it, clenching his teeth to suppress the pain when he saw he was still falling and using the chance to regain his posture.

He somersaulted, digging his blades on the ground as base before taking them off, landing on his feet with a crouch and standing up to turn around immediately, there was a barrage of slashes heading his way that he needed to stop. He parried, blocked, dodged, side-stepped and dove, keeping his eyes glued on his opponent's swords before locking them with his to force them into a standstill.

"You're good." Jonah complimented mockingly, smirking behind his helmet at the sight of the knight's glare. "Dad wasn't kidding when he said you're the best."

"Who is your father?" Erza asked him through gritted teeth, not seeing but feeling the guy's smirk behind his helmet, hence her overall expression. "Who told you about me?"

"Sorry, I'm still standing." He mocked again, breaking the standstill and disappearing from sight.

She growled in anger at his now constant mockery of her and made to follow him, disappearing from the clearing as well.

* * *

_North of Magnolia…_

"Got anything yet?" Lucy asked to the two boys in the middle of the forest, seeing them doing nothing and just standing under the shade of a large tree. She sweatdropped. "Guys?"

"Flame-brain says this is where he was staying last night." Gray informed her, pointing to the cup of the tree with little interest. "And yeah, there's another scent around… not just Jonah's."

"So…?" She waved a hand in motion for him to continue. "What else you got?"

"Well, there's also that." Natsu said pointing to a location not far from there, to the blonde's left. "That's the direction they took after talking or whatever in here."

"T-that…?" Lucy turned to look in the direction the pink-haired pointed at and her jaw fell to the floor; there was a path of destruction made with slashed, holed and burnt trees that headed all the way towards the river, the same river that went across Magnolia through its canals, which would explain how the man was found there and not here. "A-are you kidding me!?" She turned to the two wizards and stared at them in shock. "A-and how come you two are so calm about this!?"

"We wanted to see Erza pummeling the new guy." They replied flatly, Natsu picking his nose with his pinky finger while Gray stared at the clouds with his arms crossed.

'_T-they can't be so simple-minded…!'_ Lucy stared at them for a moment longer before letting her head fall in surrender. There was no cure for these two and their antics. "P-please tell me you found something else…"

"Happy is up there…" The Dragon Slayer told her with the same disinterest, taking something from his nose and sending it away before jerking his head up to look at the top of the tree. "Happy! Did you find anything!?"

"Ayeeeeeee~!" The cat replied merrily, throwing something from the highest branch that was easily caught by the pink-haired wizard. It was a brown, worn out duffel bag with patches on different points. The winged feline descended from the tree and landed on his foster father's shoulders, heaving a tired sigh. "Naaaaaatsuuuuu, can we go eat some fish?"

"Can't you think about something other than fish?" The Celestial Spirits wizards mumbled quietly, turning her attention to the bag on Natsu's hands. It seemed pretty old and shabby, having been repaired many times to keep it usable. "Should we look inside?"

"Uh? Why?" Gray asked her, shifting to face his teammates and the bag. "It's that guy's personal stuff, Lucy, who knows what could be there."

"That's why, aren't you curious to know?" Lucy tempted him, changing her target when she noticed the Ice wizard was adamant in keeping the personal belongings, personal. "What about you, Natsu? Happy?"

"It smells weird…" Natsu muttered as he continued to hold the old bag with his hands, sniffing the air coming from inside with his nose twitching in slight disgust. "Ew… this is full with dirty clothes."

And he dropped the bag to the ground, much to the others' shock.

"M-moron! What do you think it'd have happened if there was something fragile in there!?" Gray scolded him, smacking his head upside down in the process to send his point across.

"H-hey! Ow! There's nothing heavy there! And it smells of dirty clothes!" The Fire eater yelled in defense, focusing on the brewing argument with the stripper and not paying attention to the blond.

"Let's see~!" Lucy hummed with mischief, opening the top of the bag to shove her hand inside. She moved it around, touching clothing at every corner she explored until she eventually reached the bottom and grabbed something that felt like paper. "Yes!" Pulling her arm out with her exclamation calling her friends' attention, she almost passed out when she saw what was in her hand. "W-what is this…!?"

Natsu and Gray leaned closer when they caught sight of something in the girl's hand, their eyes widening and almost reaching the side of the moon when they fully registered what the paper truly was…

…and what it showed.

* * *

_West of Magnolia…_

'_She's being following me since I left the clearing.'_ Jonah thought analytically, pressing his back against the thick trunk of a tree with his swords close to his chest. He could hear her footsteps growing closer, heading his way, and her swings at random objects in her path to make him rush his actions. He shook his head in amusement. _'Does she think I'll head out like a scared cat?'_

The footsteps continued for a minute more, going from one side to the other, getting closer and closer with each second, before stopping.

'_Why did she stop?'_ The armored man quirked an eyebrow in wonder, resisting the urge to take a quick peek of what was beyond the tree and steeling his mind to the possible offensive. She was urging him to get out or was about to – he looked above him when he heard several whistling noises cutting through the wind and his eyes widened. A rain of blades was heading his way. _'D-dammit! I cannot dodge that in time!'_

'_Found you.' _Erza thought calmly as she saw a cloud of dust rising from the position her swords bombarded, shredding the thick tree with ease and anything in their range. Her hands were holding an extra pair of swords while seven more floated behind her. Seeing that the man was fast and smart enough to counter her strikes when she was in her normal armor, she had to take it up a notch and change tactics. Her Heaven's Wheel Armor suited this fight better; it would allow her to overwhelm him and end the fight faster. _'Whoever told you about me forgot to mention this, Jonah.'_

"Meteor!"

"W-what?" The red-head asked in shock, seeing the cloud of dust dissipated after the spell was mentioned and allowing her the sight of a pretty banged up Jonah surrounded by golden magic. Her swords were around him, dug into the ground with several cracks and chips on them, having been deflected the best the man could before he got to overwhelmed and had to boost up his speed. What about his armor's state? The sight of it made her freeze.

The cloth covering his upper body was gone, torn to little pieces because he was unable to block all of her swords. The metal still remained, almost of it, there were missing parts like a shoulder pad or part of his chest plate, or how both of his blades were broken from the guard up. But the helmet, that's what called her attention, his helmet was cut in half, allowing her to see one side of Jonah's face that was slightly cut and bleeding.

"If you go serious, I will too." The blue-haired man growled in between pants, trying to regain his breath after the defense he had to put up. The glow of Heavenly Body magic kept on resonating around him and keeping him protected, helping with his recovery slowly but consuming part of his magic reserves in consequence. He closed his eyes and called off his broken swords, straightening up his posture for his next move. "I hope you're ready."

He moved his arms around him, forming small spheres of golden magic that were close to the size of his head and let them float as he formed more. He swung one arm back and the spheres retreated to hover above his head, letting him form more spheres in front of him until he stopped. There were close to twelve orbs of Heavenly Body magic surrounding him, moving at his whim and waiting for him to order them anything.

"Orion's belt." Jonah named the spell, taking a hand to his helmet and ripping the remaining half to let his other eye see without obstructions. He opened them both and locked his gaze with the woman's for the first time since they met, letting her know, if she didn't by now, that this got serious. "Do your best."

Erza remained quiet a second longer, her mind still battling the similarities between the man standing before her and the one she last saw in Crocus. Blue hair, brown eyes, Heavenly Body magic… even now, the use of said magic was making his so far straight hair stand a bit with some spikes at the sides, bringing more resemblance between the two. All that was missing was the tattoo across his right eye.

"I will, you don't need to say it." Though, she heard him, and the fight was far from over. Her hold around her swords grew stronger and she slid one foot forward, jumping without hesitation to slash at his chest, the swords behind her lunging with her as if they had been shot by a gun. He smirked contently, bringing his arms forward and commanding the spheres around him, using six to block the swords in her hands while the rest focused on stopping the seven others she wielded through telekinesis. She glared at him from up close, ignoring the sparks coming from the clash of his magic and her swords, and narrowed her eyes. "Now I'm more curious to know who your father is."

"Really now?" Jonah scowled in challenge, his smirk in place and his eyes showing his interest in seeing how the fight would end. He spread his arms to the sides and brought them forward again, the action making his spheres push the scarlet-haired woman back little by little.

"Defeat me and get your answers!"

**To be continued…?**

* * *

**AN: Here we are... again... heh. I gotta admit, writing this fight scene really made my day. It's been a long time since I wrote one, to be honest. And since this one feels like a Jellal vs Erza, I got even more motivated to write it. *chuckles* Not for the reasons you think, people. I really like Jellal's and Erza's magic, so to see a combination of the two fighting against the one basics is actually pretty cool and something worth the reading/writing. *nods***

**Saludos.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.**

**I do own the idea for the fic though.**

**AN: *chuckles* Got your heads into thinking, huh? I can see most of you are wondering where this is all headed and what the answers will be. *grins* Believe me, you won't be disappointed. And no, the answers won't come as easily as you would love them to. There has to be some more intrigue before that, don't you agree?**

**Onto the story…**

* * *

**Stargazer.**

_North of Magnolia…_

"H-hey, isn't that…?"

"Y-yeah… it's her…"

"A-and that's… h-him…? R-right…?" Lucy asked for confirmation, holding the neat piece of paper in her hands with her eyes looking at it as if it was an illusion of sorts. She could definitely see and discern that the place behind the people standing in the picture was Fairy Tail, the exact same building they saw earlier that day, but the people standing there, those who were familiar to them, were older.

Definitely older than what they were now.

"W-we should tell her." Gray mumbled after a moment of silence, his mind a mess but still clear enough to tell him what he should do in such a situation. "She doesn't know and that moron probably didn't tell her on purpose."

"Huh? But why?" Natsu wondered to himself, crouching next to the blond to take a better look. He could definitely see that the people were the friends he knows and that the third one on the woman's arms was the same guy to which the picture belonged to, only that younger, way younger than now. "Why'd he hide this?"

"T-that's a good question." The blonde murmured, finally getting out of the shock and thinking of the situation a bit more slowly and calm. If the man didn't say anything and kept on dodging the truth, there must be a reason for it. She saved the picture back in the duffel bag, much to the boys' confusion and started for the guild. "Take his bag, we'll wait for them in the guild."

"Uh?" The Ice wizard mouthed, taking the bag with one hand and following the blonde's steps with the Dragon Slayer trailing a few steps behind. "Aren't we going to stop their fight?"

"Nope, I'm sure Erza will handle it without problems." She answered lowly, eyeing the place where the fight was currently happening. She could see some clouds of dust and feel the bursts of magic, but they didn't worry her.

"Erza is Erza after all." Natsu resumed for her, grinning confidently with his hands joined behind his head. "If that guy thinks he will win against her, he's in for a surprise!"

Gray snorted with light amusement, shaking his head and adjusting the weight of the bag he was carrying.

* * *

_West of Magnolia…_

'_She's going all out.'_ Jonah thought for a second, side-stepping a trinity of swords to his left and using his orbs to follow them and destroy them. He couldn't allow her to use any more weapons against him, the last time he did almost cost him his legs. He narrowed his eyes at her form in the distance, rushing to his position and prepared the remainder of his orbs for the defense. _'She made me spend seven of them in quick succession…'_ She dashed at the last meter, lunging from below and slashing at his arms. He moved them away and let the swords pass, using Meteor to gain distance as he continued to think. _'I won't last long if I don't find a way to counter her.'_

'_He's been dodging this entire time.'_ Erza was on the same condition, trying to figure out her opponent for a way to end the fight at the same time she kept him cornered. When she saw him getting away at great speed, she made her swords stop him, forcing him to use his spheres to block them and remain still for a second. She took the chance and crept from behind, kicking his back and throwing him off-balance. "I got you!"

"K-kgh…!? T-that's what you think!" He yelled after a grunt of pain, looking over his shoulder at the woman and then at the single orb that didn't join his defensive maneuvers. The woman's eyes widened in surprise but she did not lose her focus, the orb approached her the second the man willed it to attack and she was already sending a sword its way, seeing the magic explode when the weapon reached its core. The man took the cloud of smoke in the between them as an opportunity to escape and he managed to do so, halting his movement some meters to the right, staring at the cloud of smoke in search of any kinds of movement. _'Did that do it?'_

"Requip!" A flash of light broke through the black smoke and from it came Erza in a new armor, holding one sword this time and slashing at the young man with such speed that he actually thought he would lose now. "Stop running away!" A black armor with bat wings; his memory was not in good condition at the moment so he couldn't remember what the armor could do. He only knew that it was lethal, as many other armors in the knight's repertoire. He summoned a sword to his hand and tried to block the slash, his eyes widening and his mouth opening in pain when the woman's sword shattered his and slice all the way to his chest. "It's over!"

Making her point clear, she took the slim crack in his focus and slashed again, breaking the remaining parts of his chest plate and twirling around to deal a strong kick to his mid-section from below, sending him skyrocketing several meters from the ground. The red-head followed him quickly, swatting her armor's wings to gain speed and preparing her sword to attack with both hands at his back from above, effectively doing so and staying on the skies to watch the man fall to the ground with no golden glow around him.

'_T-that hurt… a lot…' _Jonah thought idly, letting the wind refresh his face as he fell. The slashes to his chest and back certainly hurt, more than the wounds he got the night before by his mysterious visitor, but it wasn't enough to force him into staying down or unconsciousness. No. He had to win, make sure she never got an answer from him about who he really was. He frowned while his mind reactivated his magic and stopped him from breaking his head against the dirt, hovering and turning around in the air to look at the woman that remained in the skies. "That was impressive…"

Erza remained quiet and let him continue, doing so in hopes of hearing something that could lead to an answer about his persona, a small slip from his words that could give clues to her musings.

"I've been pushed to these limits many times before… but never this quickly." He said, adjusting his posture in the air and calling off Meteor to stand on his own two feet. He narrowed his eyes at her and sighed while closing them, now a different light engulfing him, changing his broken armor to a new one, exactly the same as the one he was wearing but in better shape. "I have to admit… you truly are as strong as dad said." He summoned a pair of strange rapiers to his hands, clutching their handles strongly and channeling his magic through them. "I think this is the best time to use them."

'_Use them…?'_ She asked in her mind, seeing the strange rapiers having no cutting edge or guard close to the grip, just a cylindrical body with no sharp point either. She narrowed her eyes when she felt his magic moving to the weapons, the cylindrical bodies glowing after a moment and taking the energy of the new guy to show which their true edge was. Her eyes widened in disbelief. _'Magic-enhanced weapons…!? Those are rare in Fiore… I don't think there're many in the world even.'_

"Be careful," he called her attention from the weapons to his form, showing her he was getting ready to strike and continue from where they left off. "I cannot control these weapons completely."

He spread his legs apart and lowered himself mid-way to bounce off the ground with great force, activating Meteor again to quicken his ascension and catch the woman off-guard. He slashed with his left and saw her block his new blade with ease, her eyes glaring at him for the quick strike before widening in surprise at the sight of her sword. The metal was being eaten away with each second it remained close to the man's rapier. Her expression faltered even more when she noticed his other blade was free and was currently heading to her shoulder. She left the first sword to her left hand and summoned another to block the second strike, seeing that the same effect occurring to it.

"Those are not weapons you usually see around this place." Erza muttered through gritted teeth, knowing she couldn't dwell too much in talking when her blades were close to be cut in half along with her neck. She tried to push the man off of her and found him staying still and solid in his space of air, staring at her through the thin line of his helmet. "Where did you get them?"

"It was a gift from my dad, when I finished training with swords." Jonah revealed emotionlessly, breaking the stand still and moving to float a few feet away from her. He slashed the air with the magic-enhanced swords and sighed, shaking his head at something in his mind. "They might look like normal blades but they are more like chainsaws," he raised one and pointed it at the center of her chest. "They make my magic rotate at incredible speeds in the blade sending small pulses that either disrupts the spells sent in my way or cut through anything they fell upon."

'_That explains their golden glow.'_ The scarlet-haired knight checked, seeing that there were indeed small almost unnoticeable pulses taking place along the height of the blade. _'And what they did to my swords.'_ She eyed her own swords through the corner of her eyes and clicked her tongue at the small chips of steel missing from them. Her attention returned to the wizard. "Why would you need such weapons? They clearly are more suited for killing than for fighting."

"Because… as you imply, I always had more of a need to eliminate my enemies rather than letting them walk out of a fight." He let the sword return to his side and lowered his head, reminiscing about the many times he had to take a life in order to live another day. He inhaled a good amount of air and exhaled it slowly through his mouth. "Anyway, I would rather not talk about it."

"You will have to after this fight is over." Erza reminded him, entering a stance with her swords and getting ready for a new offensive. She was now more curious about what he was hiding from them.

"Hah, we'll see about that." Jonah responded with confidence, shrugging off the memories of his life to engage in battle with the woman. He was having a good time with this, even if he was on the losing side so far.

He leaped forward and slashed to the right, his sword being parried by hers and receiving a strong hit to the top of his helmet by her free sword's butt. She moved again and flew over him with her body spinning quickly, one leg extending and smacking him on the back to send him falling to the ground with her wings helping her to follow without missing a beat. He turned around in mid-air and pointed three fingers at her, keeping hold of his sword in the process and firing three beams of Heavenly Body magic that she swatted away with no difficulties.

He twisted again and changed directions when he saw the ground close to his face, flying off into the forest with the woman following his every move. She couldn't let him hide as he did before, that would make the fight longer and allow him to recuperate from his earlier wounds. He speeded up and rounded a tree, now moving straight towards her with both swords held backwards in front of him. The knight was surprised of the action but didn't stop, if anything, she increased her own pace and brought her swords to meet his.

The clash that happened when their swords connected sent a gust of wind and dust across the forest, even forcing several trees to lean back while the closer ones were almost uprooted from their positions. A medium sized crater formed under them as they hacked and slashed at each other, parrying or blocking the strikes at the same time and keeping on with the display of swordsmanship without losing an inch of breath.

* * *

_Fairy Tail…_

"They've been at it for an hour now," Laxus commented to his grandfather, stepping into the balcony that gave sight to the front of the guild and the forest in the distance. He eyed the place where the pulses of magic could be felt and grunted when he saw a large cloud of dust emerging from the dense mass of trees. "Shouldn't you stop them, gramps?"

"No, not yet." Makarov answered simply from his sitting position on the railing, seeing his grandson lean on it to his side and staring at the same thing as him. He sighed and brought his mug of beer to his lips, taking a quick sip before resuming his vigilance. "Whoever that kid is, he has strength enough to stand up against Erza."

"Oh? Really now? Hmph, that's something rare these days." The blond man mocked lightly, chuckling in amusement when he felt another pulse from the forest. He returned his attention to the fight and smirked. "I gotta admit I'm surprised he managed to survive the hour, especially now that she's getting angry."

"You noticed it too?" The old man laughed, grinning brightly despite the constant pulses. "Magic is a strange thing, it even let us know the mood of people." He saw a golden dot erupt from the forest and fire off seven beams of the same color towards a small black dot that was following it. All of the beams shattered when they got too close to the black dot, seemingly disappearing on contact and urging the golden dot to head back to the ground with the black dot hot on its tail. "She's truly determined to win this fight."

"Poor brat, if she loses the last of her patience, he's done." The leader of the Thunder God Tribe chuckled again, staring into the distance with his smirk still present.

Inside the guild, several of the skilled mages could feel the pulses as well, doing their best to ignore them despite the increasing quantity of them and how each one felt stronger than the last. It was nothing new for them to feel their strict knight's power going rampant on someone, but it sure was new for them to feel for that long of a time.

"Okay, this is ridiculous." Gray groaned exasperated with the long fight that has been taking place in the forests of the west. They returned to the guild fifteen minutes ago thinking that their friend would end it completely in a matter of minutes and now, they weren't so sure about it. "Jeez, why cannot she beat the heck out of him and return?"

"You know why, Gray," Lucy reminded him with little attention, reading a book she had in her purse and got from her friend Levy, who was sitting next to her and reading with her. "He's as good as her, of course he will not fall so easily."

"Man, I cannot wait for their fight to end… and I get a chance to fight the new guy!" Natsu yelled from his spot, grinning widely at every pulse he felt and the strength behind each one. If the guy was as strong as the woman, fighting him would surely be something exciting. "Right, Happy?"

"If he's like Erza he'll beat you in one hit, Natsu." The cat mumbled nonchalantly, stuffing his mouth with a fish given by Mira when they returned.

"Whaaaaaaat? Happy! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"They've been fighting for quite a while now, huh?" Levy commented absentmindedly, too enthralled in the new book she got and was currently reading. The pulses did nothing to distract her from her hobby. "The new guy is pretty strong."

"Aye, he is." _'And you don't know why that is~.'_ The blonde answered, excellently holding back the urge to grin and brag about their recent discovery in the forest. She took a peek to the stairs and saw Mira heading with a tray to the second floor, a jar of beer and a neatly folded letter on top of it.

The white-haired barmaid got to the second floor and headed to the first door she saw, opening it and entering the Master's office with her legs taking her to the window leading to the balcony. There she found the old man and his grandson, both staring intently at the fight occurring in the outskirts of the town.

"Oh Mira! Just in time!" Makarov greeted boisterously, grinning to the white-haired wizard and pointing at the fight in the distance. "Look, the best part is about to start!"

"Hmmm?" Mira chuckled lightly at the man's enthusiasm and set down the tray on the railing, standing to the old man's free side, since the other was taken by Laxus and staring off into the skies, seeing a golden dot floating high and being surrounded by many other glows. Her eyes opened wide in surprise. "Oh my."

"Oi, he's going too far." The blond man complained, feeling the rise in magic power and seeing the mass of clouds in the sky gathering around the point of power in reaction to whatever thing the new member of the guild would dish out to their seasoned S-class wizard. "This got serious."

He stepped on the railing and turned into lightning, heading out at top speed to stop whatever insanity was about to occur.

* * *

_West of Magnolia…_

"You're not making this easier!" Jonah yelled in irritation, dodging several slashes to his head and parrying the stabs to his chest. He jumped back and fired a beam to slow the woman down; seeing his attack being swatted like nothing by her as she pushed forward and resumed her offense on him. "Hey!"

"It's not supposed to be easy!" Erza answered in kind, slashing at his head and then his right arm, finding both of her blades stopped by the young man and pushed aside for him to run away from her. She gave chase without losing a second. "Come back here, Jonah!"

'_Dammit, if she continues like this… _that_ will happen.'_ The man thought in panic, twisting to see behind him as he continued to fly away and fire more beams at his pursuer, all of his attacks being slashed aside with ease. He clenched his teeth in discontent, not believing his strikes to be so weak that they could be taken down this easily. "Stop moving! I cannot land a decent shot if you keep on swatting my beams!"

"That's the plan, idiot!" The red-head rushed the distance between them and slashed again, seeing him stop and gain a foothold on the ground to block her swords better. The clash sent another shockwave through the forest. "Stop running and fight!"

"This is how I fight!" The man yelled back, growling in annoyance and holding back her swords. She wasn't scared of what his magic-enhanced blades could do, from what he saw, and if he ever got close to completely breaking her defenses, she would just change her weapons and lung at him again. "You're getting on my nerves!"

He pushed her off of him and took off to the skies, switching one of his swords for a gun and turning around to see what the woman was doing. She followed him, unsurprisingly, and she was picking up speed with every second he delayed. He shot seven beams at her, making them move haphazardly to confuse her, but saw, with much dismay, that she just swatted them again like mere flies.

'_God! I cannot fight like this!' _He protested internally, dodging her next strike and heading back to the forest for cover. She followed him and this time, she threw one of her blades at him, commanding it with her telekinesis to make it follow him despite the many turns and twists he pulled. _'She's far more challenging than I thought!'_

He fired beams at it, the projectiles barely doing something to stop the blade, and he growled, stopping and letting the sword pass over his shoulder. The weapon twirled around, redirecting itself to its target and resuming its task, only to be split in half by one of the man's rapiers. Jonah made sure the blade was out of commission before coming back to face the woman, parrying a slash of her blade and stabbing at her side soon after. Sparks flew around whenever their swords met. He dodged another slash and brought a knee forward, slamming it against the woman's mid-section and bringing a hand down to punch her in the face.

Erza held back the grunt that wanted to come at the strength of the punch and glared at the armored mage, taking hold of his offending arm and swinging him with all her strength to the skies with a several swords following him. The blades cutting through him like paper and returning to their master while Jonah repositioned himself and flew higher into the sky. He glared at the mage on the ground and made several spheres of Heavenly Magic appear around him and surround him in an elliptic belt to his waist height. He got tired of fighting.

"I'm out of options!" Jonah yelled with some regret and scorn, his pride kicking in and blinding him to reason. "You brought this upon yourself!" He spread his arms to the sides, returning his weapons to his pocket dimension, and made the spheres rotate around him, later swinging his arms down with one more sphere forming close to the palms of his hands. He closed his eyes and focused. _'Remember the training, find your temple… breathe in… breathe out…'_

'_W-what is this strange pressure I'm feeling?' _Erza thought hurriedly, feeling the new guy's spell creating a crushing force over the forest that got her to her knees. She raised her head slowly, fighting back the pressure to land her eyes on what the new guy was doing. This was something she never saw, but it certainly felt like something she witnessed once in the time. _'I-It's like Abyss Break…!'_

'_And prepare for what is to come…'_ "In days of yore, there were only men and the sky, judgment was passed by the stars and their subjects," he opened his eyes and saw the orbs around him connecting through thin lines with the one close to his hands, their spinning growing faster. "Repent, for the end is nigh, and tremble under the might of-!"

"Okay, brat, time to stop this shit!" Laxus roared from out of nowhere, shifting the guy's attention to him and catching him off-guard with his sudden appearance, and stopping him from finishing his sentence with a strong lightning bolt straight to his chest. The spheres of Heavenly Body magic imploding and vanishing when their caster lost his focus. "Shut up and stay down!"

'_W-what…?'_ Jonah thought with his mind in shambles, trying to register what happened but failing to do so due to the constant pain coursing through his entire body and nerves. He tried to see what hit him but he only got a blurry image of someone floating in the sky. _'W-who…?' _He couldn't make up any images; he could only feel himself falling from where he previously was. _'W-why…?'_

The last he saw was darkness.

And the last he felt was a warm hold from behind.

* * *

_At night…_

"You went a bit too far, Laxus." Makarov scolded lightly, inspecting the state of the blue-haired guy that was being tended by Mira and Lisanna, both girls doing their best to wash out the wounds the young man got from Erza before shifting their attention to the burn at the centermost of his chest. "You only had to stop his spell."

"Be thankful I did something, old man." The blond man countered, crossing his arms and looking at the badly injured brat he electrocuted a few hours ago. He got a bit carried away, yes, but most of the guy's wounds were for the knight to blame.

"You alright, Erza?" Lucy asked to her friend, seeing her sitting at the side of the next bed and inspecting how the treatment of the new guy went. Natsu and Gray were downstairs, fortunately, since Master knew they would be more of a nuisance that of help in the infirmary.

"Yes, Lucy, I'm fine." Erza replied dryly, keeping her gaze set on the young man's face and how he was handled during the healing. She herself was covered in bandages too, but not as many as the guy she fought a few hours ago. Her eyes narrowed when she remembered the strange pressure and spell he tried to use back then. _'It felt as powerful as Abyss Break… but it was a Heavenly Body magic spell… and his words…'_ Her eyes were close to turning into slits because of the narrowing. _'Where did he learn such a thing?'_

"Okay, we're done." Lisanna heaved out a tired sigh and wiped the sweat from her forehead, looking at the blue-haired man on the bed with a frowning face. "Jeez, he really strained his muscles in that fight."

"He had to; Erza was on him all the time." Mira, her sister, chirped in with a smile, despite the gloominess of the moment.

"He actually pushed your buttons, Erza," Laxus mocked the knight, fighting off her glare with a simple smug smirk. "If the guy were to fight me, I would've ended the fight before it even begun."

"I'd actually like to see you try, Laxus." Erza countered, her gaze returning to the sleeping man on the bed next to hers. "He managed to counter most of my strikes without breaking a sweat." She fixed the man with her sternest eyes and continued. "I would be surprised if you manage to land a hit on him after the first five minutes."

"He's that strong, huh?" The blond man mused to himself, directing a challenging smirk in the unconscious guy's direction. Mira and Lisanna frowned at him, but he laughed them off, waving a hand to dismiss them. "Hahaha! Don't get so worked up! I'm not Natsu!"

"With that look on your face, you almost looked ready to jump on him." The younger Strauss whispered, clenching her hands just in case. Laxus might have changed from the old foul attitude he had but he still retained some of it at times.

"No one is manning the bar now, Laxus," Makarov interceded, figuring the girls were still adjusting to his grandson's imposing attitude. Sure, he was way better than what he used to be, but there were still some edges to polish. "Make sure Cana doesn't raid it."

"Tch, whatever you say, gramps." The blond man muttered under his breath, still amused by the reactions he got at his attempt of arrogance and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him and letting the occupants continue with whatever they were doing.

"How much time does he need to recover?" The red-head asked once the man left.

"I don't know, the injuries weren't bad… it's more of the amount of injuries he has." The barmaid explained, bringing a finger to her lips as she thought and oversaw the man's condition. Her friend truly didn't hold back during their fight and most of the blue-hair's body was covered in bandages, from the feet to the neck, there was even a bandage wrapped tightly around his head for a cut he got at some point in the fight. "Aside of the cuts and bruises, most of his muscles are cramped together… he'll be in a lot of pain when he wakes up."

"Wendy and Carla are returning tomorrow," Lisanna reminded them, standing up from her chair and heading to the exit. "We should ask her to take a look of him when she's back."

"Aye, we will." Makarov murmured tiredly, feeling the exhaustion of the day hit him and urging him to call it a night. "Let's go, it's too late to be awake." His eyes fell on the woman of red-hair sitting on the other bed, seeing her frowning face staring at the unconscious newbie. "You should go back to Fairy Hills, Erza." She looked at him and nodded. "We'll deal with him tomorrow."

"Yes, Master." Erza replied half-heartedly, rising from her spot and going to the exit with Mira helping her on the way. She wasn't as badly beaten as the new guy, but it was better to avoid pushing it.

"Anything on your mind, child?" The old man asked to the blond girl that remained on the room, catching a glimpse of her scrutinizing eyes inspecting Jonah's face while he slept. "If not, you should follow the others." She gave a muffled yelp of surprise and shook her head in embarrassment, biting her lip to stop herself from saying anything and moving the door with the others. "Have a nice sleep."

He chuckled in amusement at the whole day, finding it incredibly funny how not even the three strongest of the guild noticed that…

"Can we speak for a second, boy?"

"…"

"There's no one here except you and me." Makarov told him quietly, walking to one of the chairs and jumping on top of it, gazing at the sleeping face of the blue-haired with a small smile. "You can stop pretending."

"…I-I want to cry." Jonah whispered softly with his eyes closed, holding back the urges to scream at the intense pain he felt all across his body.

"I would be surprised if you didn't." The old man chuckled lightly, looking at the young man opening his eyes slowly and blinking a couple of times before suppressing a pained groan. He chuckled a bit louder. "I take it she didn't hold back."

"N-no, she didn't." The guy answered, moving carefully on the bed and taking a position where he would be more comfortable to speak. He replayed the fight in his mind and sighed, knowing he would have to explain everything the next day. "There's pain in places I didn't know I have."

"That's Erza for you." Makarov could keep on chuckling for the entirety of the night but he addressed the young man from his rest for a reason. He got serious. "Is she who you're meant to protect?"

"…" Jonah remained silent, keeping his gaze on the sheets and ignoring the question.

"We found your belongings in the forest, boy," he told him quietly, not paying any mind to the shocked and distraught expression on the young man who now looked at him with all of his attention. "They are in my office, but I told those who know to remain silent."

"…why?" It seemed really weird to hear that the vital information he had was going to be kept away from the people that had to know about it, especially by those that were closer to those people. Weren't they honest to each other in this place? _'Dad might've been wrong in something…'_

"It's a personal matter between you and those two; we cannot butt in in situations like that." The Sixth Master explained with a wave of his hand, shrugging the matter aside as if it weren't that much important. He locked eyes with the blue-haired man and nodded firmly. "Unless you want us to, we will only remain at the sidelines."

'_Is he… serious…?'_ The look on his face clearly told the young man that the Master was speaking seriously. _'W-why…? This is something he should definitely tell them…'_ His hands trembled a little at the idea of being lied to, so he had to confirm it. "…there's a catch, isn't there?"

"No, no catch." Makarov laughed, truly amused by how the young man couldn't understand the way Fairy Tail has. He hopped off the chair and headed for the door, casting one last glance at the unnerved young man before leaving him to his devices. "Rest for tonight, you'll have a long day tomorrow."

And he was gone.

'_Of course I will… everyone will be staring awkwardly at me and she will demand for the answers…'_ Jonah heaved a long sigh, tired of everything so far and slightly irritated of his plans going through the window. His father made a slight mention of things never going according to plan when it involved the guild but he never thought it would be this bad. Okay, it wasn't bad since the people who knew were going to remain quiet until he got the moment to confess on his own, but still. _'I actually lost that fight… interruption or not…'_

He shook his head and got back under the covers, doing so slowly so as to not open up his wounds again and lying on his side to be a bit more comfortable. He had to sleep and be prepared for the following day, whether he liked it or not.

"I won't plan things from now on…"

**To be continued…?**

* * *

**AN: Here we go, new chapter just out of the oven. *chuckles* Let's see how the story flows from now on... this is the part where it will get more tricky and confusing. Even more than it already was... or at least, that's what I think.**

**Saludos.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.**

**I do own the idea for the fic though.**

**AN: *whistles a quiet tune* So… I caught up to the manga… well, not quite, I just read what happened in the last chapter. Pretty convenient. *chuckles* Now I wonder how the guy will be brought back to life. LOLMashima and his ways, I saw better in other stories/mangas/animes/books. Seriously… doing that to poor Jellal… it's not even a worthy way to finishing him off or try to at the least.**

**Onto the story…**

* * *

**Stargazer.**

_8-Island…_

"I let Makarov know of your presence here." An old short man with a chef hat murmured quietly to a nicely dressed couple in one of his restaurants' tables, seeing the people around eating and chatting without a care in the world while he discussed about recent developments with two wanted people.

They were under disguise, again, to avoid detection while protecting the old man from a possible threat that might befall upon him.

Jellal nodded quietly, his new appearance alike to an young man of brown hair and normal clothes, drinking a glass of water while wondering what to do in case they were to find the strange assassin there. "I see… it was a good idea."

"They need to know what's going on in case things go out of hand." Meredy added, eating a small piece of cake with the same thoughts as her leader in her mind, disguised as a young girl of auburn hair and a bit more notorious clothes. They have been there for a day now and nothing happened, luckily.

"Aye… they won't like to have been kept out of the loop, even if it's for their own safety." Yajima chuckled at the idea, knowing pretty well how his friend's guild members would react when something big like this is being hid from them, especially when people important to them is involved. "Any clues at Michello's?"

"None, the one who did this is good at covering its tracks." The blue-haired wizard informed, disgruntled about the whole affair. This killer was not one to take lightly if it could move like this. "We found the same in Crawford's house… nothing but destruction."

"We did find a letter from the current Chairman though," The girl showed the paper to the old man, looking out the window with her teeth chewing her cheeks from inside. "It doesn't say much…"

"Hmmm, an anomaly? I didn't felt anything wrong after the Games were over." The owner of the place thought aloud, shaking his head and returning the letter to the people, folding his arms behind him after doing so. "Something imperceptible to the senses that the Council's scanners picked up perhaps…?"

"That's what we think; it's the only other explanation we have left." Jellal sighed and leaned back on his seat, crossing his arms and lifting his head to look at the ceiling in thought. "Another individual from the future is here and it's killing the members of the former Council…" His eyes narrowed. "We don't know why but it seems like that person has a personal vendetta against us."

Yajima quirked an eyebrow in curiosity. "Us?"

Meredy nodded slowly. "Yeah, we also think Jellal can be targeted."

"We're not entirely sure, but we don't discard the possibility yet." The former Saint continued, returning his gaze to the short old man with a frown on his features. "If the killer targets you next or any of the others, then it's likely I'll be hunted down as well."

"It makes sense." Yajima nodded and stared at the floor, shrugging after a moment and turning around to return to the kitchen. "I'll return to my occupations if you don't mind."

"No, please, sorry for bothering you." The wizards gave small smiles of gratitude, not only because of the time given to them but of their identities being kept secret.

"It's not a bother, young one." The old man was about to disappear into the kitchen when he suddenly remembered something. "Ah yes," he turned around, looking for something in his pocket and leaving it on the table for the wizards. "Makarov answered me as soon as he got the letter… he says he will tell the guild when the time's right and that you don't need to worry, they will be more than happy to help if the situation worsens."

"Good to hear it." Jellal nodded again and shifted his eyes to the letter, seeing it was a sealed one. It was not the letter Yajima received from the Master of Fairy Tail that was certain. "And what is this?"

The old man chuckled lightly, resuming his exit with some parting words. "He says you should see it."

"Uh? What could it be?" Meredy asked aloud, snatching the letter from the table before the blue-haired could even touch it. She giggled in amusement at his reproachful face and opened the envelope, inspecting the contents and pulling out two pieces of paper from inside. "Oh! A picture!"

"A picture?" The man asked in wonder, taking the letter in his hands and reading it aloud while the girl looked at the picture with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. "…_something interesting happened a couple of days ago, take a look for yourself_…?" An eyebrow rose in confusion and he turned to see the picture in his partner's hands. "What does it show, Meredy?"

The girl snapped back to reality when her name was mentioned, looking at the man before her and the picture for a minute or so before speaking, a few giggles escaping her as well. "I didn't know you had a brother, Jellal."

Jellal blinked a couple of times. "A brother… you say…?"

* * *

_Earlier that day…_

_Fairy Tail…_

'_I've been slashed, stabbed and close to being torn to shreds… I had a rain of blades over my head too.'_ The young man eyed the landscape before him and the many eyes focused on him, the tension in the air allowing him to feel the small droplet of sweat travelling down his side-burns or even hear what was happening close to the entrance of the town. It was terribly quiet to his liking. _'But this? This definitely takes the cake.'_

He swallowed the lump in his throat and inhaled a good amount of air, fixing his gaze to find a place where he could go and sit for a moment. According to what he heard the night before, he needed to rest some more, get himself checked out by a woman called Wendy and then… _'And then… I guess I'll find a place to stay.'_

Jonah sighed and looked around for a free table on the second floor. Since the place was completely empty unlike the first floor and the bar, he guessed it would be best to remain there. He took a seat on one of the empty tables and leaned back, moving his neck around to get rid of some of the stiffness that remained from the fight, groaning whenever a bone popped and eased his pain a little bit.

"You shouldn't do that, you know?" He heard a voice to his right and there he found the woman of white-hair that served him some water when he joined. She smiled at him, carrying a tray with a new glass of water on one hand while the other had a jar with some more. "Stretching and cracking bones will only make the pain worse later."

"Maybe… it's better than letting it settle." The guy told truthfully, seeing her lay the jar and glass on the table before stepping back with the tray on her lap. He nodded at her in appreciation and indulged himself with the water, heaving a content sigh after downing half its contents. "Thank you."

"Ah, don't worry; I figured you needed something to drink after sleeping so much." Mira told him simply, waving his gratitude with a carefree hand. She looked at him for a good second and just when he considered taking another sip from his glass, she asked. "Would you like something to eat too?"

"…something to eat?" Jonah repeated with the glass close to meeting his lips, he laid it back on the table and thought with a frown on his face. Would it be okay to eat when he knew there were some… complications in his situation at the guild? Well, it was offered to him, it wasn't him asking for food, so, no harm to it, right? He nodded. "Sure… I would like-"

"Wait!" She interrupted him, walking away hastily with a big smile. "I have just the thing for you."

'_W-what…?'_ The blue-haired followed the woman's movements in cluelessness. She went to the first floor, entered the kitchen and in a few minutes, she was out with her tray carrying something. What? He didn't know. Whatever thing she was bringing was currently covered by a white cloth. "W-what is that?"

"You'll see~." Mira chirped merrily, taking the cloth off and laying the dish on the table with one swift move.

The man blinked a couple of times when he got to see what she brought.

'…_cake?'_ Certainly, it was a cake, a simple one with white frosting and a complete strawberry at the top and some cut pieces at the center with the filling. He quirked an eyebrow at it, looking at the sweet dessert from all angles and then at the still smiling woman who fetched it for him. "…strawberry cake."

"Yep!" She motioned with her hands for him to try it, a glint in her eyes slightly unnerving the man while she did so. "Go on, take a bite."

'…_w-why do I have bad feeling about this?'_ The young man wondered alone, turning his gaze back to the cake. It looked harmless to him, delicious too, but… there was something at his insides screaming for him to not eat it. Maybe it was because of the woman's strange stare or the possibility of the dessert to be poisoned… or maybe… _'W-why's everyone looking at me so weirdly?'_

Not just the woman but also those in the first floor, everyone's eyes were fixed on him and what he would do next with the completely harmless cake. It was as if they were expecting for it to elicit a certain reaction in him, something he could not understand or even begin to fathom. It was a cake, plain and simple. Was it perhaps for his preference of fresh water instead of other things? Perhaps they wanted to see if he likes sweet things?

'_I-I guess there's no harm in trying… right…?'_ Jonah thought nervously, taking the fork next to the plate with one shaky hand and moving to strike the front top of the dish, his eyes noticing from the corners how everyone leaned closer in anxiety at every millimeter the fork advanced. He gulped and shook his head. This was ridiculous. He ate sweet things before, he liked them, yes, but they weren't his main choice. He preferred normal foods other than something like this. _'Humoring them is not a bad idea after what happened yesterday.'_

He shrugged and relaxed, took one bit of the cake and brought to his mouth in one swift motion, letting his taste buds do their work and tell him how the dessert settled with him.

He swallowed.

And then… he froze.

Everyone's breathing hitched.

His eyes widened.

His pupils contracted.

'_This…! This is…!?'_

* * *

_An hour later…_

"I-I did my best, Erza-san." Wendy told the woman with a small smile, smiling nervously and bowing her head slightly. "Y-you should feel better now."

"I do, thank you, Wendy." Erza answered gratefully, closing and opening one hand to test if she felt any pain while doing so. The cuts she got the day before were now gone, the pain in her muscles vanished as if it was never there. Truly, her friend's magic worked wonders. She gave an honest smile to the nervous little girl and stood up from her bed. "You're getting better with each day."

"N-no, Erza-san, please!" The girl replied shyly, clearly flustered about the compliments while her trusty companion sighed tiredly at her antics. "I-I still have a long way to go!"

"You've gotten better since last time, Wendy." Carla shook her head and closed her eyes. How hard was it to believe that the Dragon Slayer was getting better in her abilities? She shot a sharp look to her. Luckily, she knew how to make it so that her worries would vanish. "Or are you saying Erza-san is lying?"

"N-no! Of course not!"

Erza laughed softly at the exchange, shaking her head and patting Wendy's to calm the little girl. After so many trials and time, she still was the same young girl she and the others met seven years ago. "Let's go to the guild, Wendy."

Agreeing silently to the light encouragement and the words, the girl and her cat followed the woman down the road to the guild, chatting about usual and daily worries to keep themselves entertained until they got to the front doors of the establishment.

All three noticed there was something off in the guild that day.

"I-It's really quiet…" Wendy whispered curiously, hearing no sound from the inside, though her strengthened senses told her there were people inside.

"Follow me," Erza pushed the doors open and stepped inside with her companions behind her, eyeing the place quickly and finding, much to her confusion, that the place was actually full. She could see all of her guild mates inside, even some who were rarely seen, and they were all staring at the second floor. "What's going on here?"

That seemed to snap a good amount of them from their trance.

"H-holy…! I-It's Erza!"

"W-what are we gonna do!?"

"H-how should I know!?"

Their reactions were quite confusing.

"W-what?" The woman asked slowly, not getting why the sudden fear of her presence in the hall. Sure, they were usually like that with her, but it was always when they were doing something she would not tolerate. This case… they were in silence and she stepped in, she didn't have a reason to go scolding them like she uses to, so… "Can someone explain what's going on?"

"Oh! Erza!" She heard a voice call for her and looking up, she saw Mirajane waving a hand at her with her biggest smile. She was leaning against the railing of the second floor. "Come here!"

'_What does she want?'_ The knight thought idly as she made way to the second floor, little Wendy following her steps out of curiosity. Once they reached the end of the stairs, she turned to the white-haired barmaid there and directed her questions again. "What's going on, Mira? Why's everyone so quiet?"

"One more, please."

"I guess this is why." Mira explained cheerfully, motioning with one hand to the table behind her where the young man of blue hair was sitting with a content smile on his face. Though, that was not what called the attention and shock of both people who just arrived, no, it was the sight of five dirty plates on the table and the man holding a sixth one up in the air. The barmaid turned to him and nodded, making her way to the kitchen in less than a second. "Aye! Just a second!"

'_I-Is that…?'_ Her mind was trying to deny it but her senses were sharp enough to know it for sure. What was lying on those plates earlier was… "Y-you've been eating… cake…?"

"It's really good," Jonah nodded with his pleasant smile still on his face, leaving the sixth plate on top of the others and crossing his arms. "I never had something this good."

"S-strawberry… cake…?" Erza asked slowly, taking one nervous step forward to better see the remnants of the dishes. Yes, for the crumps on them and the frosting at some parts, it was confirmed that the man has been eating her delicious dessert. And not just one plate, no, he ate six, and he was waiting for the seventh one. "Y-you were eating strawberry cake…?"

"Is there a problem?" The man asked curiously, directing his gaze to the woman. What was the problem of him having a dessert especially made for him? And he asks that because he now believes God himself made the sweet pastry just for his tongue to taste. His eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me you want some."

Something clicked in the knight's mind when the words were said, something that made the guild turn quiet again and Wendy and Carla to take several cautious steps back. "What if I do?"

"Sure, if there's more, I don't mind." The blue-haired proclaimed confidently, closing his eyes and waiting for the barmaid to return with his food.

'_T-this kid is really pushing it.'_ Several of the guild members thought nervously, being able to hear the guy's words as he spoke to their short-tempered knight as if she hadn't eaten strawberry cake ever before in her life.

"It'll be better if more people learned to enjoy this gift from above." He continued shortly after, stopping the woman from barking at him with a hundred reasons for him to stop being so cocky.

Now this was shocking, to say the least.

"You think so too?" Erza asked quickly, taking the opposite seat without missing a heartbeat and looking at the young man with a glint in her eyes. Oh, if all people were like him, she would be very happy to share in her passion for the sweet pastry… if there's enough for everyone, that is. "I can't believe you actually like cake this much."

"Neither do I." Jonah answered truthfully. He got to eat several kinds of sweet things but this was new and delicious to him, truly something to eat as many times as possible. Okay, not really that much, but it would be comforting to find this every time he returns from a job. Or once a day… maybe twice. "I've eaten sweets before but I never found something so… enjoyable."

"Here we go~!" Mira made her presence known to them, carrying a tray with her free hand resting on her hip.

The knight's mind caught quickly, now she wanted some cake of her own. "Mira, good, can you bring another-?"

"One step ahead of you~!" The barmaid's smile widened when she saw the red-head's teary eyes, moved to the soul when she laid not one but two portions of cake on the table. She stepped back and grinned. "Enjoy!"

"Thank you." And both wizards attacked the food in the blink of an eye.

'_Perfect.'_ Mira thought mischievously, taking a camera from out of nowhere and taking one shot from the two while they ate quietly. She giggled under her hand and headed for the Master's office, surprising the old man with her presence. "Master, I've something you need to see."

"What is it, Mira?" Makarov asked curiously. He was currently answering a letter to an old friend, one who was currently under great danger from the looks of it, but he could delay a second or two to see what one of his children wanted.

The white-haired shoved the picture to the man's face. "Here!"

The old man remained silent, inspecting the picture over and over with his eyes widening in shock.

"…is this recent?" The Master got a merry nod in answer and he grinned, a few laughs escaping his lungs. "I will have to write another letter."

* * *

_8-Island again…_

"It looks like they're having a good time," Meredy teased lightly, chuckling lowly and trying to restraint herself from laughing at her partner's face. "Don't you think so, Jellal?"

The man himself remained silent. There it was; a picture of his beloved Erza eating cake together with another man who looks exactly like him, both really into the pieces of cake they had in front of them and smiling widely while doing so.

This was… outrageous… in some kind of weird way.

Jellal left the paper on the table and stood up sharply, his eyes steeled and his posture firm. He couldn't let this happen, even if there was nothing happening to begin with. "We need to go to-"

"Nope, sorry, we have to stay, remember?" The pink-haired girl laughed inwardly at the man's now deflated form, containing herself even more when she thought of why. She patted his head to ease his worry and gave a bright smile when he took a peek of her. "Don't worry! I'm sure Erza is not the cheater type."

That certainly didn't help him.

"J-Jellal, wait! W-where are you going!? Jellal!"

* * *

_Back to Fairy Tail…_

_Present time…_

"Does Mira bake the cakes here or does she buy them from somewhere?"

"Good question but I wouldn't know, I never asked her."

"We should ask her if we get the chance."

"We could ask her right now."

"Good point."

"S-sorry, Jonah-san, I'm still not done." Wendy told lowly to the man of blue hair, intrigued by how similar the guy was to another blue-haired she knew and how he seemed to act the same as the woman nearby. It was really interesting for her, good thing she had to take care of the guy's wounds or else she would not be able to hear more.

"Ah, true, don't worry, I won't move." Jonah gave a small smile and returned to the conversation, eating the last bit of the cake and leaving the fork on the plate. He sighed contently and leaned back, relaxing his muscles for the girl to work easier. "That was nice."

"Yes, it was." Erza murmured, placing the empty dish on the table and giving the man her most stern face. Now it was time to answer some questions. "Remember the deal we have?"

The man closed his eyes and prepared himself; a deal was a deal in the end. He lost that fight, despite it being interrupted so he had to comply with the woman's wishes. "Yeah, I do."

"Good, tell me then, who are you?" The red-haired asked first, wanting to know foremost with whom she was talking to.

"My name is Jonah S. - …" The guy paused and shook his head. "I cannot tell you my last name, sorry."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Why not?"

"Because that would change the events to come." He opened his eyes and gazed straight at her eyes. "I would like to prevent that from happening."

Erza sat quietly for a second, her eyes scrutinizing the man's face for any hint of him lying and finding nothing. If his words were correct, he meant he knew of the future somehow and wanted to prevent anything from it to be changed in any way. But then, that would be contradicting to his actions now. "Why are you here then? Wouldn't that change the future?"

"It would if it weren't because I'm here for something else entirely." Jonah tilted his head to the side and looked down, wondering to which extend he could keep on answering and when would the woman connect everything.

And she was doing just that, with what little the man told her, she started to put the facts into place and try to find the answer on her own. Since he was adamant in not revealing too much, that was her best choice. "And what is that?"

"I'm here to protect someone," he said lowly, below a whisper but not as low to be called as such. His eyes closed partially. "If something happens to that someone, the future will be changed… and many things won't be the same."

"So… you're not doing this because you want to… but because you must to…" Erza wondered out loud, moving one hand to her chin in thought while her other one supported her arm by the elbow.

"Yes… that's correct." Jonah returned his gaze to the woman and nodded sharply, though he gave a smile when he continued. "Though I changed my mind after the last two days."

One of her eyebrows rose in curiosity. "Changed your mind? About what?"

"About being here because I want to or because I must to…" He looked around and saw the hall in the first floor, the idle chatter between members, the boisterous laughs, the comradeship, the warmth as a whole. It was new to him, alien, so much so that it changed his mind with just two days there. "I can imagine myself liking this place."

"Jonah-san grew fond of Fairy Tail?" Wendy asked unconsciously, butting into the conversation without noticing. When she did notice though, she was waving her arms in the air for them to ignore what she said. "D-don't mind me! I-I blurted it out of curiosity!"

Erza and Jonah looked at her for a moment, sharing amused chuckles when they saw the girl fretting over something so innocent. They stopped and smiled at her, the guy moving one hand to pat her head as if it was natural.

"You're right, don't worry," he shook his head when she continued to fret and grinned. "It's not like I can hate you for saying something I was about to say anyway."

"O-okay…" The girl murmured with the same nervousness, which toned down, feeling strangely comforted by the man's patting on her head. It felt the same as… _'Is he… related to…?'_

"I like Fairy Tail… enough to change my answer and say I'm actually glad I'm here." Jonah said with a content smile, now completely relaxed in the environment. "Despite knowing what I must do and the reasons for coming here, I can say I like this place."

Now Erza remained silent, thinking over the words and watching the man intently, he certainly looked more at ease now that he was in good terms with that fact but, she wasn't looking an answer to his nervousness, but to his secretive behavior, and why was he related to…

"I'm glad to hear that," she nodded with a small smile of her own, this one disappearing in a second and leaving her with her stern face again. "Back on topic though, how are you related to Crime Sorciere?"

The young man looked at her with a blank stare, which in her mind looked like he was trying to think of an answer, but, before she got to hurry him, he spoke. "I'm a member."

A frown etched on her face. "You're a member."

"Yes, I am." Jonah nodded sharply. "I'm not a member since its founding but I've been a part of the guild for a long time."

Her frown deepened; he was answering her questions like he promised to, but he was still giving vague responses to whatever she had to ask. "How much time?"

"I don't know… four years perhaps?" He scratched the back on his head and shrugged. "Master didn't allow me to join until I was old enough to fight on my own."

"And your Master was?" There. This was her chance to get an answer that could help her connect all the dots. All she needed to hear the name she was thinking about and everything will be over.

Jonah closed his eyes and sighed, opening slightly to gaze at the table and then at the woman opposite to him. If he were to say this name, he was sure she would realize everything, which wasn't bad in his opinion, but he still needed to attain to what he was told. "Master's name… his name-"

"Hey! New guy!" A voice yelled from below, calling all three people on the second floor and directing their eyes to see the pink-haired Dragon Slayer waving a paper in one hand with a huge grin on his face. "Sup? You up for a job!?"

Jonah remained quiet for a second, looked through the corner of his eyes at the female with him and stood up abruptly, slightly surprising them with his move. "Sorry… say, Wendy? Are my wounds healed?"

Wendy looked at the man nervously and nodded slowly, wondering in her mind why he moved so suddenly. "Y-yes, you're okay now…"

"Perfect." The blue-haired man nodded sharply and, with a simple waved of his hand, he went down the stairs to the first floor. "Yes, I'm good, what're we going to do?"

Erza, shaking the shock out of her and noticing what the young man was going to do, tried to interject. "W-wait, we're-!"

"Some guys are hitting carts on the way to Crocus," Natsu explained with his grin growing, happy to see his simple query got the man's attention. "They need us to punch the heck out of them and get their stuff back."

Jonah nodded twice and pushed the Dragon Slayer to the exit. He really wanted to get out of there before a certain someone got a way to react to his fast exit. "Sounds perfect, let's go."

"O-Oi, don't push!"

And they were gone.

Everyone looked at the door and the sun burning outside, and then at the red-haired woman on the second floor who had her arm extended in motion to catch someone.

They sweatdropped.

Why was it always them that had to suffer the stupidity of others towards her?

"H-he… he just walked out of the door." Erza uttered in slight disbelief, not really wanting an answer but…

"Y-yes… they – I mean, he left without answering your question, Erza-san." Wendy squeaked nervously with her feet taking her one step back at a time. Even though the knight was truly a kind and wonderful person at heart, no one wanted to see her whenever she got upset over something…

"JONAH!"

…and with good reason.

* * *

_Magnolia's train station…_

"T-thank you." Jonah murmured after they entered the train station of the town, bowing to the Dragon Slayer and his cat with ease. If they just knew that they got him out of a pretty difficult situation.

"Uh? Why? We're doing a kick-ass job so you can show us how you fought Erza!" Natsu yelled to the top of his lungs, waving the request in the air while Happy remained with his eyes on the new guy, snickering in amusement at his confused face.

"Erza was going to punish you, right?" He rolled his tongue while saying so.

"N-no, at least, I think she wasn't." The blue-haired man answered, trying to keep his nerves settled. He wasn't sure but he swore he heard his name being yelled from the building belonging to the guild, and by her, no less. He turned to the people with him. "C-can't we just leave now?"

"We have to wait for Lucy and that stripper." The pink-haired stopped and grinned to the young man with a bit of mischief. "Why? You want to head out quickly?"

"Y-yeah, I really do…" Jonah replied warily, not liking the grin of the pink-haired or the sudden feeling of being watched he had at the back of his neck. "C-cannot we go there now and let the others catch up?"

Natsu seemed to actually think about the proposition, which actually surprised the blue cat resting over his head. When was it that the head-strong Dragon Slayer ever stopped to listen to anyone's proposal? Okay, bad question. When did he ever consider a proposition that would lead to his teammates being left behind?

"Sure! Sounds like a plan!" He eventually roared, grinning like a maniac and rubbing his hands together. "I can't wait to see Gray's face when he sees we're half-way done with the job when he arrives!"

The blue-haired wizard quirked an eyebrow in curiosity. "You have that much faith in my skills?"

"Uh? Nah, not many," Natsu replied nonchalantly, sighing tiredly and waving a hand in dismissal. "You're new like Lucy was so I'm thinking you'll be more or less the same as her."

"Aye! Lucy was really useless when she joined the guild!" Happy added with a bright smile, much to the blue-hair's nerves.

'_Oh, so they think I'm not strong enough?'_ Jonah thought bitterly, showing a forced smile to the two companions with him while he followed them to the train. Now this was a challenge, he needed to prove himself to these people if he wanted to be more comfortable. _'I wonder if it'll be bad to prove them wrong.'_

And he didn't have a problem with that.

**To be continued…?**

* * *

**AN: And here we have a more light-hearted chapter. Why? Because I thought it would be better to make things a bit more funny before heading back to the serious stuff. Seriously, shit will hit the fan pretty soon and every single moment like this one should be appreciated. *nods* Okay, don't listen to that, it's pretty simple actually. This was a filler-kind of chapter. A bit to prepare the ground for the next to come, and a bit to have laugh with the OC who is actually... nevermind.**

**Saludos.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.**

**I do own the idea for the fic though.**

**AN: Not much to say, honestly. I'm switching between this story and A Change of Scene, so the update intervals will be a bit stretched in between chapters *sweatdrops*. The last update to this story was about 2 weeks ago or something. Damn. *sighs* It's also a thing of finding inspiration to write these chapters so... yeah, we writers are complicated, you don't need to remind me. *chuckles awkwardly***

**Onto the story…**

* * *

**Stargazer.**

_Crocus's Central Station…_

That same afternoon, they were standing inside the train station of their destination. It was a quick trip to the capital city of Crocus thanks to the blue-haired man insisting on them to take the train there instead of walking, despite the pink-haired man's protests and teases from the feline of the group about why the first guy was so adamant in getting away from Magnolia as soon as possible.

"For the last time, I'm not afraid of her." Jonah murmured as they set foot on the train station of Crocus, carrying a dizzy pink-haired with him. He took a long look at their surroundings, remembering the other sight he had of the city in his mind, and shook his head. _'It's so different from that time.'_

"Suuuuuuuuuuure~!" Happy answered with a roll of his tongue, nibbling on a fish he pulled out from the green bag strapped to his neck, walking next to the pair to the streets. "She scares you~!"

"She… you… forget it." The blue-haired sighed and walked forward, paying more attention to the bustling streets with narrowed eyes. There were a lot of people in the city, so many in one place alone. It was something new to him; there weren't that many people alive in his own time, only devastation. Endless battlefields of times he was too young at the time to remember, or even wonder their relevance. _'I cannot remember… who fell here…'_

"Hey, new guy…" He heard the voice of the pink-haired next to him, a slight poking on his ribs too, and he turned to see what the guy wanted, seeing him standing on his own feet now and getting ready to meet their contractor. "Sup? You're spacing out."

'_Natsu Dragneel… Salamander…'_ Jonah stared at the man in the eyes and thought of his person, of what he could manage to remember about him. There were many stories about him, several awe-inspiring, but he couldn't remember the important details. _'Why cannot I remember those things?'_ He shook his head and returned to reality; he was spacing out again. "Nothing, let's go to the client's house."

"Great! Let's go then!" Natsu cheered and led the way down the street, ignoring the curious looks of the passer-byers and chatting with the blue cat next to him, the blue-haired man following them silently a few steps behind. "Yup! This job is just what you need!"

The man quirked an eyebrow in curiosity; the only reason he accepted the offer was so he could get away from the interrogation back at the guild. "Just what I need? What do you mean?"

"Duh, the reward, slowpoke." The Dragon Slayer said with his hand searching inside his vest, pulling out the job request and showing it to the new guy with a bright grin, using a finger to point at the reward. "See? 500,000 jewels and a magic sword! I'm sure Erza will forgive you if you show her that!"

'_I seriously doubt she'll overlook what I did because of some nice gift.'_ The wizard thought grimly with a small smile and nod to show support for the other's idea. It was pretty childish, honestly, but he didn't have the heart to throw the guy off his cloud. _'But he's doing this for my sake… I better follow through with his plan.'_

So they went down the path leading to the client's house.

* * *

_Somewhere between Crocus and Magnolia…_

They were currently unaware of the many people following them and their ill thoughts towards them. Not truly something that one could interpret as they being seeking blood as revenge but more like, you know, beating the hell out of them for the stunt they pulled.

One hell of a beating, that is.

"Damn that numbskull!" Gray growled for the umpteenth that day, still mulling over the fact the Dragon Slayer left them behind in the job he himself invited them to do with him. It was supposed to be an opportunity to talk some more with the new guy and confirm a few things but… it all went down the drain. "Going ahead to the job…! Tch! Fuckin' idiot!"

"I can't believe Jonah let him do this." Lucy grumbled quietly, sitting across the Ice wizard with her arms crossed and her eyes closed, wondering how the blue-haired, who they thought was a bit more mature than the pink-haired, let this happen. She eyed to her right subtly and trying to remain in covert, guessing the person going with them might be a part of the reason for such a hurried departure. _'Did they fight again or something?'_

Erza remained quiet, arms folded over her chest and glaring at the seat opposite to hers, her mind remembering the happenings of that morning and how the guy left without answering her most important question. She now had a closer idea of who the man was but she still needed confirmation, something from the young man to directed her, and exchange a few words with the other blue-haired man who resembled this new member of Fairy Tail the most.

"Once we find them, I'll give a piece of my mind to those morons." The Ice wizard kept on rambling, glaring holes at the glass between him and the landscape outside the train. If looks could kill…

"Gray." He heard a chilly voice calling his attention, making him snap out of his anger momentarily and turn his head robotically to address the woman of scarlet hair with them. She gave a simple glance in his direction and he felt like dying on the spot. If his looks could kill, hers would be pretty much able to destroy the world. "Calm down, you will do no such thing."

Lucy heaved a sigh of relief; finally someone thinking and speaking like a grown person. "Jeez, Erza, I almost thought you-"

"There will be nothing left of them for when I'm done." The Titania continued with the same icy tone, returning her eyes back to the poor seat in front of her and leaving a scared Gray and Lucy to pale at the implications of her words.

She was mad indeed.

"S-sure, Erza, whatever you say." Gray nodded dumbly and went back to gazing at the landscape, silently praying for her wrath to not be as she showed it to be. He was sure she would regret it later when the answers were presented to her.

"C-cannot we calm down and think of this slowly?" Lucy asked nervously to the group, receiving a pleading look from her male teammate to shut up and let it slide, and a threatening glare from the woman sitting with her. She scooted closer to the window out of instinct. Survival instinct. "I-I mean, I'm sure they had good reasons…?"

The woman with her narrowed her eyes and she yelped, quieting down in less than a second with her own brown eyes eyeing the landscape outside the window. Gray gave a shaky nod of understanding and sympathy to her through the reflection of the glass, and did the same.

It would be better if they were alive to see how it was all going to end.

"Well, aren't we lucky?" A young woman sitting a few spaces down the train car asked in a singsong tone, giggling lowly to the man sitting next to her and keeping an eye on the wizards. "You rush out to check on her and we just happened to find her in the same train? Lucky lucky, Jellal."

"Keep it quiet, Meredy." The man with her, hidden under the shadow of his cloak, whispered to the young girl, at the same time wondering what was doing the woman he was looking for in the same train as them but heading towards Crocus. "It's good for us they didn't notice our presence here."

"Well… if you're looking for a reason to that," she eyed the atmosphere around the mages and how the woman of scarlet hair was glaring at the seat in front of her. She sweatdropped at feeling the cold aura from that part of the train car and how the other mages with her backed away from her spot. "S-she's obviously mad about something… so she didn't notice we got inside in the last station."

'_Does it have something to do with that lookalike I saw in the picture?'_ Jellal thought quietly, feeling a bit irked over what that picture showed to him. Why would she be eating together with someone who looked exactly like him? "We will follow them…"

Meredy snorted in amusement. "Suuure, captain."

* * *

_South of Crocus…_

"So the man didn't have much to say…" Jonah said after leaving the client's home, taking a last glance at the place and the person looking at them from the window next to the door, waving a hand in sign of goodbye while all they all left to the place they had to guard. He looked forward, shoving his hands inside his pants' pockets and threw a questioning glance at his partner. "Natsu-san? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Natsu answered shortly, not bothering to share his thoughts with the new guy. There was something weird in that house, something his nose picked up and he couldn't shake off even now when standing outside. There was a familiar scent in there and he was troubled in between letting the young man know or keeping it to himself. He decided to keep it to himself in the end. "Let's go, the caravan'll be here soon."

"…right." The blue-haired nodded quietly and followed the Dragon Slayer, internally wondering what was wrong while they walked through the still bustling streets to the outskirts of the city, trying not to bump into people and reach their destination before the other could catch up to them. _'I wonder if they-' _He suddenly felt a chill down his spine. _'…w-what was that?'_ He looked around and found nothing. The weather of the day was perfect and it didn't seem to be chilling down any time soon. _'…is someone talking about me?'_

"Jonah~!" He heard the cat calling for him, making him notice that he was staying behind. "You look smaller from here, Jonah!"

"I don't look smaller… you're just faraway." The man whispered to himself, sweatdropping at the cat's logic and hurrying in his steps. The sight of the city was still keeping him enthralled, like a kid watching a set of bright lights. He couldn't adjust to this many people, not even in the guild back in Magnolia. His head went left and right with the crowd, seeing the different faces and overall happy atmosphere of the place, finding to be like a dream of sorts. One of which he wished he didn't have to wake up from. _'It's… truly peaceful…'_

"Alright, we're here!" Happy chirped… happily? …that doesn't work, uh. Oh! Happy chirped merrily. Yes, he chirped merrily, pointing one of his tiny paws to the gates of the city and the group of guardsmen keeping control of the entrance and exit of both objects and people.

The group walked past the control point, giving short explanations to the guards, and walked down the road to the last place where the caravans were struck, finding remnants of the last strikes and several pieces belonging to carriages and more, even some weapons from the last group of wizards that tried to help with the job.

"It's more desolated than I thought." Jonah spoke, breaking the deafening silence, stopping at one point of the road where the destruction was more noticeable, which meant it was the original spot of the attacks before the caravan ran off at full speed towards the city. The skid marks said that much at least. He knelt next to a part of the road full with footprints and counted the amount of them, narrowing his eyes in worry. "It's a large group… we should be careful… Natsu-san?"

Receiving no answer, the youngster turned his head around and found the Dragon Slayer keeping his gaze fixed on the top of a certain tree, glaring at him with his utmost attention and not moving his eyes from there. Happy remained quiet, having picked up the presence like his foster-father and waiting for the person observing them to come out of their hiding.

"What is it?" Jonah stood up and walked to stand next to the pink-haired, eyeing the same tree but not feeling or sensing anything from there, not even a slight movement of the leaves or the branches that could confirm there was someone with them. He gave his partner a side-glance and slipped one hand out of his pockets, quickly summoning a gun just in case. _'Who's there?'_

"Didn't I tell you to stop following me?"

The pair of wizards, and the cat, brought their guards up. Natsu bringing his fists to the sides to counter anything while Jonah aimed his pistol at the crown of the tree, a small droplet of sweat falling down his brow when he thought of how familiar that voice sounded just now. It was a female voice, icy to the core, with no emotion creeping to the surface except hate. A cold burning hate that sent shivers down the wizards' –and cat's- spine.

"I really hate your insistence."

"Natsu-san…" Jonah called lowly to the wizard with him, catching glimpses of things, maybe people, moving around them in the forest, trying to surround them with their large numbers. While paying attention to this, he tried to discern with whom they were talking now, feeling the eerie familiarity of the voice and wondering if this was the person he was looking for. _'Why cannot I remember the name…?'_

"Aye…" Natsu answered dryly, still keeping his attention to the person in the tree. The scent was the same he smelt when Gray, Lucy and he went to inspect the last place the new guy used to sleep back in Magnolia. A foul scent with not a single peck of good in it, the very same he could smell now and that was making his nose scrunch up in disgust. "You stink like rotten food."

"Why thank you, you don't smell so good either." The voice answered shortly, snickering hollowly to the joke, letting the two wizards be surrounded by her people. The guys stood back to back now, realizing that their speaker wasn't going to attack them herself and instead sent her people to do the dirty job for her. "Keep them entertain, my dogs."

"W-wait! Where are you going!?" Jonah yelled hurriedly to the person speaking to them, now seeing movement at the crown of the tree, whoever was standing there leaving the place to do something else. He tried to move to follow her but a shadow to his front forced him to stop and raise his gun to block, finding one of the many thugs staring at him blankly while forcing his spear against the young wizard. "W-what the hell?" He kicked the man away and stood back to back with Natsu again. "These guys… they are not acting on their free will."

"Watch it!" Natsu warned with a hand shoving the guy out of the way of an attack, seeing a blast of wind passing between them and passing all the way to hit another of the thugs surrounding them. The pair looked at their attackers in surprise. "What's wrong with these weirdos?"

"T-they don't care if they hit their companions in the crossfire…" The blue-haired straightened up and walked back slowly, keeping a close eye on their foes, witnessing the one that was hit standing up again with no reaction to the wound on his chest caused by an ally. "They're not even reacting to the pain."

"Hah! Doesn't that make it fun then?" The pink-haired grinned and hit his fists together, looking at the enemies with anticipation, for any one of them to make a move like before so they could start the fight. "Let's see how much they can handle!" The thugs moved again and prepared another barrage of attacks for them, seemingly not caring for the power they were putting in their spells and just focused on dealing damage to the wizards when firing them. The man stared wide-eyed at the wave of spells heading his way. "W-wow! That's insane!"

'_Dammit!'_ Jonah clicked his tongue and spread his arms to the sides, a glowing golden light in his hands that soon expanded around them in the form of a sphere and blocked the incoming wave of magic. He clenched his teeth at the power hitting the barrier and remained focused on keeping it up. "Nebula!"

"Ah! Shiny!" Happy exclaimed in awe, seeing the barrier keeping them safe from harm, every single attack bouncing off the barrier in another direction and leaving a wave of ripples as the only sign it was touched. It was of the same golden light as the other spells of the blue-haired and it was translucent enough to let them see what was beyond its protective layers.

"Happy, take us out of here!" Natsu yelled hurriedly, seeing that the barrier wasn't going to last long and knowing that they would not be able to handle that many attacks at once. The cat nodded and in a second he was behind the man with his little paws holding onto his vest, his wings sprouting from his back and taking them up to the skies when Jonah lifted the barrier and used Meteor to follow their lead. He looked at the explosion underneath them and sighed in relief. "Okay, that was close…"

"Natsu-san, look out!"

"Huh? C-crap!" He heard the youngster with him yell and he looked down, seeing another barrage of spells heading their way. The cat behind him flew around to dodge the strikes and the pink-haired blocked those that were close to hitting them, swatting the last one and taking one large gulp of air to roar a massive amount of fire to their attackers. "Leave us alone, dammit! Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The thugs below them stood their ground and let themselves be consumed by the flames, much to the wizards' shock and surprise, falling to the ground afterwards with no more energy to stand back on their feet. The ones that weren't hit though, they continued to send spell after spell to the wizards with not a bit of worry for their fallen comrades.

"They won't give up…!" The blue-haired teen groaned, feeling one of the spells gracing his left shoulder. He glared at the thugs and then looked at his companion, nodding to him when an idea popped in his mind to stop the enemies without having to kill them or do something that could hurt them mortally. "What about a beat down?"

"Hell yeah! I like that idea!" The Dragon Slayer shouted with a wide grin, calling for his friend to take them down and landing in the middle of the thugs' formation, using their slow reaction to land a punch to one of the closest ones and then a kick to the one standing next to him. He jumped a slash to his back and took hold of the attacker's head, lifting him off the ground easily and sending him towards the blue-haired speeding in their direction, the guy only kicking the thug aside to the forest and landing close to Natsu to cover his back. "Wanna see who kicks most butts?"

Punching a man away from him and backing away from a slash to his face, Jonah threw a quick glance over his shoulder and smiled in mild excitement. "Is that a challenge?"

"Jonah is like Lucy so we'll have to save him later." Happy told them with his merry tone, annoying the blue-haired man who blinked a couple of times before freezing him still with a death glare.

"…I'll make you swallow those words." The blue-haired man uttered acidly before engaging on Meteor again and flying through the open spaces in the thugs' formation, punching and kicking everything on his path with little effort.

"Yep! He's definitely like her!" Natsu chuckled at the scared look of his feline friend and, after patting his head to comfort him from the scary sight, lunging to strike at the enemies around them with flaming kicks, punches and head-butts.

Unbeknown to them, the person who they encountered before the bandits got to surround them was still in the area, watching them with little interest on the fight as a whole but keeping a close eye on the blue-haired man. A small smile came to the spectator's face when it caught up to something important during the small exchange of words they had earlier.

"So you don't remember everything, eh, Jonah?" The person said with the same icy tone of before, snickering quietly in between the dense mass of trees, turning her attention to the city in the distance when it felt a couple of presences entering the capital, two of them calling most of her attention. "Oh? These magic powers… feel… _familiar_…"

She grinned and walked in the direction of the presences, casting one last glance to the fighting duo on the road.

"You just made my job easier, thank you for that."

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu yelled one last time with feet taking him against the enemies at full speed, producing a large stream of fire from each of his arms that he swung at the thugs, burning them and at the same time sending them flying away behind him due to the blunt force of the produced fire. He heaved the breath he was holding and looked around the area, seeing both him and the blue-haired man managed to get rid of their respective opponents. He grinned in the direction of the young man and gave him a thumb up. "Good job, new guy!"

'_Strong hits to the head or overall damage to the body… it was a long shot…'_ Jonah looked at one of the thugs on the ground, seeing him twitching a bit and trying to get up again, only for him to kick him on the side, completely knocking him out of the fight. _'But it worked.'_ He raised his head to the Dragon Slayer and waved a hand in answer, giving a small smile of his own. "Thanks, Natsu-san."

"So… what now?" The Dragon Slayer asked curiously, walking to stand next to the youngster with his arms crossed behind his head and his glance directed to the last place where he could smell the scent of the leader of these people. "Should we go after her?"

"I don't know… should we?" The young man asked in thinking, scratching the back of his head in wonder. He still couldn't recall why the voice sounded so familiar to him or why it sent shivers down his spine with every word. More so, he now could feel a strange anger whenever he thought on who the owner of the voice could be. _'Anger…? Why…?'_ "We should return to the city and get our reward…"

"Yeah, but…" Natsu gave a glance to the forest, his nose scrunching up in disgust again before returning his gaze to the blue-haired man. "She was the person that you fought in Magnolia," Jonah's eyes widened. "Are you sure you don't want to follow her?"

"T-the one I fought…? You mean the one that left me unconscious?" The Dragon Slayer nodded in answer, prompting the guy to frown and look down in thinking. The same person to left him with his memory in shambles, aside some pretty bad wounds. Would it be wise to go and follow that person now? Even though he had still plenty of magic left and his wounds were mostly healed, he thought it wasn't that much good of an idea. He raised his head and shook it in negative. "No… let her be for now."

"Uh? Really?" The Dragon Slayer insisted with a curious stare, blinking a couple of times after the guy shook his head again and leaning back to look at the sky in thinking. "Okay, if you say so… though Erza would've followed her…"

Jonah stared at the pink-haired in silence, a single question appearing in his mind. "…why would I do – nevermind."

"Oh, you know~."Natsu grinned in amusement, lowering his head to look at the guy, the blue cat on his shoulder doing the same when remembering what they found the day before. "Because she's your-hmpf mpf!"

"Yes, okay, I get it, but I'd like for that information to remain a secret." The blue-haired teen said quickly, using his hands to cover both the wizard's and the cat's mouth from saying anything else. It was okay that they knew, but he didn't want to be reminded of that fact every single time. Especially here in the open; who knows who could be eavesdropping on their conversation? He let go of their faces and stood upright. "Please, don't say it aloud next time."

"Uh? Why? It's pretty obvious, y'know?" The pink-haired continued after his mouth was released, sharing a look with his companion resting on his shoulder. He brought a hand up and started to lift fingers as he counted. "Lucy knows, Gramps knows, Mira knows, Cana knows, Laxus knows, Gajeel knows, Juvia knows, Alzack and Bizca know…"

"Lisanna knows, Elfman knows, Macao knows, Wakaba knows, Nab knows, Kinana knows, Romeo knows, Warren and Max know…" Happy went on too, much to the blue-hair's shock.

"Reedus, Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen, Vijeeter, Laki, Levy, Jet and Droy…" Natsu finished counting the people that knew about the supposed secret, not so secret now, and returned his eyes to the appalled youngster with him, seeing him staring agape at this revelation. "Even that idiot Gray knows."

'_Why the heck did I try to keep it a secret if everyone but her knows by now?'_ He didn't know how many members the guild had at the current time but hearing so many names, so many people aware of who he really was, it truly was shocking and depressive. He was a really bad liar. Closing his mouth slowly, he coughed on his fist and addressed the man as if nothing had happened. "…i-is that true?"

"Yeah… we knew about it after we picked your stuff." The Dragon Slayer explained with a finger lifted in the air, pointing at the imaginary bubble floating above his head and that showed how the story went. "Happy found your bag at the top of the tree, Lucy searched inside it and found your photo, and then we looked at it for like… a lot…"

"And the others heard the news from Mira." Happy told with a small sigh and his pawn moving around in a circling motion.

"Yep, she noticed on her own and then told the others." Natsu said with a firm nod, tapping the palm of his left hand with his right's fist. He grinned brightly and patted the once again appalled young man on the shoulder, trying to lift up his spirits after everything that was said. "All you have to do now is tell Erza about it and you're good to go!"

"G-good to go…? G-go where?" The discouraged wizard asked in curiosity, raising his head a bit to look at the pink-haired in the eyes.

"Didn't you say you're here to protect someone?" The guy asked him in confusion, keeping his hand on his shoulder. "You're here to protect Erza because she's your family, right?"

Jonah kept their eyes locked as he wondered; nodding slowly when he figured it was pointless to be playing dumb with someone who already knew. "…yes, because she's my family."

"Well, she and that other guy." Natsu chuckled in mischief and patted the guy one last time, now turning around and walking towards the city with his hands joined behind his head. He was idly remembering the incident that happened not too long ago in the same city of Crocus, which let them know of many things to come. "If you're like that Rogue from the future, then you're here because something happened and you wanted to see them again… or protect them, like you say, because they're your family."

"M-my family…" Jonah repeated slowly, feeling a warm feeling spreading from his chest to the rest of his body, stinging his eyes a bit when a certain memory flashed in his mind. He flinched and brought his head down, suddenly scared of that feeling he had just now.

"So, the sooner you tell them, the better!" Natsu, unaware of the effect his words were having, grinned and gave a side-glance to the guy. "Once the secret's over, you'll get to enjoy your time with them like a real family! Isn't that great?"

"A-A real family… huh…?" The blue-haired man repeated again, not believing the words he was hearing from the supposedly hard-headed pink-haired man and feeling the warm sensation invading him again, not retreating this time. Was it perhaps one of those people who had strange moments of enlightenment and knew what to say from out of nowhere? Maybe so, he didn't know, all the information he had about this time was blocked after that hit he got the other night.

His head tilted down a bit.

Yet…

_"Good job... you did great again." A tall man said after seeing what he asked for being done, patting a young boy's head and turning around towards a door. "Come with me, you earned yourself a reward."_

_"Yeah!" The boy grinned brightly at the words and made to follow, cheering at the prospect of a reward. "Another gift! You're the best!"_

_"A reward again?" A woman in the room asked, crossing her arms and gazing at the man and child disapprovingly. "You're spoiling him with so many of those."_

_The man by the door turned around immediately with the kid on toe, both pointing fingers at the woman. "I am not!"/"He's not!"_

_The woman only chuckled in amusement and let them go._

Yet… he could still remember the other things, the ones that mattered and were currently hammering his chest and mind with both hope and sorrow. For what he could have and for that which he had already lost. But he couldn't let it bother him now; he had to remain focused on today, on keeping the part with hope alive and the sorrow only to fuel his determination.

Jonah straightened up again and moved to follow, now smiling at having people knowing of his heritage with no ill thoughts in conjunction. He saw the man and his cat and shook his head, a bit of amusement now replacing the whirlwind of nostalgic feelings he just had and that made him remember something more.

'_Natsu Dragneel… Salamander… the man in whom they believed in.' _He thought with a grateful smile to the man. _'I can understand why now.'_

Back to the Dragon Slayer and his cat, they were down the road towards the city with nothing else in mind except the issue of how they were going to split the rewards of today. If the youngster needed the money to get a place to stay or something to eat, they figured they would be okay with letting him keep the request's reward.

"Man, Erza will get crazy when she sees your new sword!" Natsu told the young man next to him, grinning in his direction and imagining his teammate's face at the sight of the guy with his new sword.

"You think so?" Jonah asked curiously, really intrigued about the subject. He was a bit of a fan of new swords too, but he never had that much of passion for them in his original time.

"Yeah, I mean, if you give it to her like I told you to, she won't be mad at you anymore!"

"I doubt that… but I guess it doesn't hurt to try… right?"

"Now we're talking!"

"Guys, look!" Happy called from his position on the pink-hair's shoulder, pointing at a cloud of smoke coming from the capital in the distance. "There's smoke coming from the city!"

"Uh? What could've happened?" The pink-haired wizard wondered aloud, continuing his walk as if nothing big was happening, despite the fast-paced stroll of their companion, who now had a four meters distance with them. They looked at him weirdly, not understanding his hurry. "Hey! What's up with you?"

"I can feel Gray-san's and Lucy-san's presences in there!" Jonah informed them, casting a look of worry to them at the same time a droplet of sweat fell from the side of his head. There were many familiar presences in the city at the moment and one of them made him remember what his original objective was. "And she's with them!" He focused a little more and felt his mind going haywire when he caught two presences more, one of them shocking him to the core. _'W-what!? I-Impossible! H-he's there too!?'_

"She? You mean Erza?" Natsu asked in surprise, now hurrying his own steps and entering into a run with the blue-haired man when he caught up to him. Now that he put some effort into it, he could too feel the presences of his friends in the city… along the same icy presence they felt before dealing with the thugs, the one belonging to their mysterious onlooker. His eyes widened. "S-shit! That girl we found is there!"

The eyes of the blue-haired teen widened in fear while looking at the Dragon Slayer. "…t-that girl!?"

He faced the road again and engaged on Meteor to hurry his pace, leaving behind a startled pink-haired man and his cat. He clenched his teeth in despair and his fists in anxiety, little attention was paid to the landscape blurring around him during his flight to the source of the smoke.

There was only one thought in his mind at the moment.

"I cannot let her get near them!"

**To be continued…?**

* * *

**AN: I had a kickass Author's Note to share with you all but FF decided to be an ass and logged off my account... TWICE... when I was done writing it and tried to save it. So now, enjoy this really short AN and my grumpiness.**

**Saludos.**

**PS: Please, leave some feedback, reviews would certainly help with my sour mood.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters; they belong to the one and only Hiro Mashima.**

**I do own the idea for the fic though.**

**AN: Sweet~! More reviews! That made my day brighter indeed! Aside this awesome cup of coffee… but never mind that, you guys are awesome, thanks. Let's see now… there were a few calls for something that can completely tag this story as… Jerza? Jelza? All in all, the same thing. I shall answer to those calls of yours, since this is why I wrote some built up in the earlier chapters. *chuckles amusedly***

**Onto the story…**

* * *

**Stargazer.**

_Crocus's Central Station…_

"Ice Make: Lances!" Gray yelled as he shot another barrage of ice lances at the target flying inside the station, missing every single shot and jumping to the side when the target shot several beams to break and pierce through his attack. He rolled on the ground to avoid the hits and glared at the flying orb of magenta color that was harassing them, which was responsible for the derailment of the train in which they were. "Stay still, dammit!"

The orb bounced off a wall, obliterating it with its touch and avoided a slash from a woman wearing a winged silver armor, flying off the other side of the station while dropping several blasts of a color similar to its own that blew up on contact with the ground, causing large explosions.

'_What kind of magic is that?'_ Erza thought as she saw the blasts destroying more and more of the huge building, her glance more focused on the civilians trying to escape and the guards that were doing their best to contain the situation. _'We didn't notice the train was under attack until it hit us.'_ Her blond friend was over there with them, making sure no one got hurt by the fallen debris with her spirits at her sides. She looked at Gray trying to land a hit on the flare again, failing to do so but allowing her an opening to try another strike that also failed. She glared at the orb and summoned a quintet of swords to shoot at it. _'And it feels much more oppressive than Dark Magic.'_

"Erza!" The Ice wizard called making a shield to defend himself from another bombing, the ice shattering on impact and sending him tumbling a few meters back, off the platform and over the rails, close to the destroyed train cars. He got up from the ground and remained on a kneeling position, keeping an eye on the flying orb and its movement patterns. "It repeats its runs!"

"Alright!" _'If I make it more aware of the swords,'_ The woman yelled back with her mind commanding her swords to follow the orb across the building, tailing its movements and making the swords get in the way of any new bombings. _'It'll change its pattern,'_ she rushed forward when she thought she had its pattern figured out, getting ready to slash at it when at reach… _'And when it does, it's time to strike!'_ "Aaaaaaahhh!"

"Don't touch it!"

"Aghh!?" _'W-what…!?'_ …but she ended up being pushed aside when the sword was a millimeter from reaching its aim, her eyes catching a glimpse of blue-hair and golden light before she hit the floor of the platform. _'W-who…?'_ Quickly collecting her thoughts and composure, she raised her torso from the floor and looked at the person that stopped her, finding the young man of blue hair standing in front of her, glaring at the same orb she was going to destroy. "Jonah! What are you-!?"

"Don't touch it, it explodes on contact." Jonah explained with his eyes not missing any movement of the orb, raising one of his guns and shooting a volley of beams to pursue it, seeing the target releasing beams of its own to counter his and stay on flight. _'It's booby-trapped… more dangerous than the ones it releases…'_

"I know it does, but why did you stop me?" Erza asked standing up from the ground, holding her swords tight and waiting for an answer from the youngster. She already saw what that spell could do and she wasn't afraid of getting a few scratches so to stop it. Why was this kid so worked up over that?

"'_Why?'_ Are you really asking me that?" He clicked his tongue and looked over his shoulder, giving a stern look to the woman behind him. "If you touch it, it explodes, if it explodes, you will be injured." His brown eyes narrowed dangerously, keeping the red-head on the spot and attentive to listen carefully to his next words. "I will never allow that."

And he flew off in pursue of the orb, leaving a confused Erza behind him to wonder about what he meant, watching him shoot volley after volley of beams to make the orb explode from a safe distance, with other beams serving to stop any more bombings.

'_What did he mean by that?'_ She questioned internally, narrowing her eyes and stepping aside when the man and the orb flew close to her place. Was it perhaps related to what he told her that morning? How? _'Protect someone…'_ She recalled his words, her eyelids opening slowly as realization struck her and her gaze fully focused on the young man. _'He's here to protect me?'_

"Heaven's Rain!" Jonah yelled while shooting another volley, seeing the same thing as before happening again and the orb keeping on with its path of destruction. He clenched his teeth in annoyance and sent his gun back to the pocket dimension, extending his arms to the sides and creating spheres of Heavenly Body Magic. He glared at the roaming orb of his enemy. "You won't escape my Orion's Belt!"

The spheres flew around the station with little control on the minor destruction they were causing, after the purple orb through train cars, hallways and the close to the ceiling by crushing everything on their path to do so, windows, pillars, posters, signs, benches and other random ware falling victim to their rampage while on the chase of the enemy's spell.

'_I need to set up a trap of my own.'_ He commanded the golden spheres forward and made them follow the other one, creating more in the process and placing them in spots he knew the purple orb was going to take. _'Cage it inside a barrier.'_ he moved his hands in a certain motion and the spheres that were on the way of the orb flew around in a triangular formation, creating bars of light to connect each other before shutting down any escape routes with thick layers of the same golden magic. He smirked in satisfaction. _'And then cause a controlled explosion inside it.'_

"H-he did it…?" Gray asked after seeing the strategy of the young man, seeing the purple orb they were trying to take down darting from one place to the other inside the barrier in search of a way to escape.

"Good work, Jonah!" Lucy yelled from the entrance to the main platform, waving a hand to the blue-haired man and his accomplishment.

"Who is that boy?" Another spectator in between the broken train cars asked, clearly intrigued with this young man who looked like him and that could use the same magic with ease. He moved a few seats out of his way and got to a better position, taking a closer inspection of the young man.

"So, you truly don't know him?" Meredy blinked a couple of times, moving from her place to follow the man in readjusting their view of the situation and saw him shaking his head in negative at her question. "I really thought he was a relative of yours."

"He's not… I'm sure I have no family." Jellal said in wondering, sensing something off with the boy and his magic, aside how good he could use it. There was something that was hidden at the core. Something dark and frightening that he could compare to something he felt once before. His eyes widened in shock as the realization dawned on him. "I think we found our killer, Meredy."

"Uh?" The girl turned her head to the man in surprise, shifting her eyes from one blue-haired to the other. This boy was the killer? But he was helping the wizards of Fairy Tail… how did he reach that conclusion? "W-what do you mean?"

"Now I only need to make it explode." Jonah murmured to himself, crossing his hands in front of him and getting ready to give the last command. It was difficult to control that many spheres at the same time to orchestrate this kind of tactic but it was worth it. He needed to get rid of this menace and trace the culprit at once before it could do any more damage.

Speaking of the devil.

"Do you know how much of a pain," a cold voice whispered behind him, making his eyes widen in fear and stop his actions completely. The voice behind him smirked in amusement, one hand holding a similar orb to the one trapped inside the Heavenly Body spell. "It is to create that kind of Explosion Magic?"

'_B-behind me!?'_ The blue-haired teen turned around as quickly as he could, forming another sphere of golden magic in one hand to meet the one of his foe. A blinding explosion occurred when both spells crashed against each other, leaving the Fairies and the people in the dark staring in amazement and distress at the cloud of smoke that formed after the blast.

"W-what the hell!?" Gray yelled in shock, seeing something moving from one of the corners of the cloud and later finding that to be a heavily burnt Jonah. He was going to run and try to catch him but a whip of sorts that came from the cloud made him stop and stare in bafflement at how it tied itself around the young man and swung him harshly against the ceiling. "Jonah!"

"G-gah!" The youngster gasped at the sudden crash, feeling his lungs losing the little oxygen they had aside an intense pain that only served to add itself to the one he could feel from the burns. It made him scream with the remnant of his air.

"I will tell you again because you seem to forget it." An amused voice rung inside the cloud of smoke; it was the one flinging the blue-haired man against the walls of the station without holding back. The smoke started to clear bit by bit with so much movement from the whip and a young girl with long, purple hair was revealed to the people inside the station. She let go of the young man by throwing him towards the Ice wizard and smirked widely at his bruised aspect. "I hate your meddling around in my business, _Jonah_."

"W-woah! I've got you!" The wizard reassured when he caught the young man in his arms, feeling the heat from the burns and the slight bleeding from some wounds that was dropping on his hands. He checked the youngster and found him to be conscious, if barely, and directed his most hateful glare to the one who did this. "Who the fuck are you!?"

The girl gave a smile and shrugged, both hands rising to the sides to make her point. "Who knows? Who cares?"

Erza snapped out of her shock when she heard her friend's question to the purple-haired girl, shifting on her feet and taking off to the air, floating at the same height with the revealed enemy. She frowned when she noticed the girl looking at her with the same smirk. "What is your name?"

"Oh… a familiar face I haven't seen in a while." The girl teased with her smile changing to a growing smirk, moving a few strands of her hair with little attention to the glares sent in her direction. "This really is the past."

"I asked you something," the woman repeated sternly, gripping her swords tightly for when she had to beat the answer out of the wizard. She didn't know who she was, and honestly, she couldn't care one bit despite the obvious hint in her words that said she belonged to the future as well as the blue-haired youngster. All that mattered was that she injured, gravely, one of their guild mates and that could only mean one thing. "Answer me!"

"I dunno if I should tell you," the girl giggled with a hollowed voice, narrowing her eyes at the Titania in a gleeful way with one hand covering her mouth and pointing at something behind the woman at the same time. "You look very busy now, _Erza_."

"Uh?" Erza looked taken aback for a second before noticing the approaching attack to her back, taking one quick look over her shoulder to see the orb that the young man managed to encage heading straight towards her. The barrier must have had dispelled itself after the heavy damage its creator suffered. She spread her armor's wings and took off to the ceiling, seeing with shock that the orb was now set on following her. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and sent three swords to hit it, the orb merely dodging or getting out-of-the-way to continue with the pursuit. _'I cannot fight if that thing's hot on my trail.'_

"G-Gray!" Lucy called as soon as she reached the dark-haired wizard with Taurus and Scorpio on toe, casting a worried glance over the wounds and burns across the young man's body. She knelt next to them and attempted to lay a hand on him only to stop midway, remembering that her action could add more pain to his nerves. She looked at her friend and saw him with his attention on the battle. "I-Is he going to be alright?"

"I don't know, but if we don't deal with that girl and take him to a hospital…!" Gray gritted his teeth and glared at the girl of purple hair, finding her to be familiar somehow or really close to looking like someone he knew. He clicked his tongue and passed the youngster on his arms to the blonde, standing up and getting ready to join the fight. "Look after him! I'll go and give Erza a hand!"

"G-Gray, stop!" The girl tried to stop him but her pleas fell on deaf ears, she saw the man doing a spell and shooting a huge hammer at the enemy, only for the purple-haired to shatter it with a movement of her hand. "W-who could she be?"

"She's enveloped by a thick and hostile magic power." Scorpio answered her, looking at the girl with careful eyes and clenched fists. "It feels cold from the inside out."

"Moooooo! Want us to help in the fight, Lucy-san?" Taurus asked with his ax at the ready, hunching slightly in preparation.

"N-no, you two stay here and protect us if she tries to attack us." Lucy ordered to her spirits, not knowing what else to do. She was sure that if they tried to make a run for it and take Jonah to the hospital, the girl would attack them and close any kind of escape routes. She closed her eyes tightly in impotence. _'W-what else can we do!?'_

"O-overwhelm… her…"

"Uh? Jonah…?" Looking down at the young man, she found him with one eye partly open and fixed on the girl floating in the middle of the station, one hand trying to rise itself from the ground to point in her direction. "W-what did you say?"

"O-overwhelm her… s-she cannot…" He felt like coughing from trying to force his body to move and speak but contained himself. They didn't know how dangerous this girl could be and he just remembered how much she could. "S-she cannot defend from a large offensive… o-overwhelm her…!"

'_If we surround her with many spells… will that work?'_ She saw the battleground around her and found Erza still running away from the orb and Gray trying to land a hit on the girl, both unsuccessful on their tries to get rid of their targets. If she helped Erza, she would have her joining the joint attack, but, if she were to send both of her spirits to help Gray, if they happened to hit the girl and knock her off her concentration… "Alright!" She nodded firmly and looked at her spirits, pointing at the girl. "Help Gray! Coordinate to attack at the same time with him!"

"Right on!"

"Mooo! Understood!"

"Ice Make!" Gray got ready to launch another spell and saw the spirits stepping forward to help him. An eyebrow lifted in questioning, _'A joint assault?'_ and grinned in appraisement for his friend's idea, _'I can work with that!'_ bringing his hands back before bringing them forward with a huge bow of ice on their grip. "Bow and…! A flurry of frozen arrows shot themselves at the purple-haired girl when he gave the last command in his mind. "Arrows!"

Taurus lifted a stray piece of rubble from the ground and threw it at the girl, knowing his axe-attacks wouldn't be of much use in this situation, while Scorpio used his Sand Buster to push the rubble ahead steadily with more force and speed.

"Oh, trying to overpower me?" The girl grinned at the array of spells sent in her direction and shook her head, using a simple flick of her wrist to send the boulder and the sand thrown at her to stop the Ice mage's arrows, the attack finally colliding with a wall to her left, much to the wizards' and the spirits' shock. "You'll have to try harder than that."

"Fire Dragon's…!"

"Uhm?" She looked up at the sound of a scream and her eyes widened in surprise when the glass that served as the station's roof shattered above her. A young man of pink hair and scaly scarf, carried by a winged cat, was descending upon her at full speed with a fist lit in flames. "W-what…?"

"…Fist!" Natsu roared at the top of his lungs, his fist connecting with the girl's cheek and sending her crashing to the rubble below with him and Happy, a huge cloud of dust rising from the collision and covering the sight from prying eyes. The Dragon Slayer stood up in the middle, imposing as ever with his eyes fixed on the little girl that was harming his friends. He clutched his scarf and accommodated it. "How's this for harder?"

"Natsu!" Lucy called happily at the sight of the pink-haired, relieved to see him on the scene and helping them take down the dangerous girl.

Gray shook his head in dry amusement and crossed his arms, relieved as the blonde for the guy's help. "Took you long enough, idiot."

"Hey! Who're you calling an idiot!?" The fire-eater yelled back from his place, holding a shaky fist in front of him to emphasize that if the other one was willing, they could fight right then and there. Though, the sound of rustling clothes and movement below him called his attention back to the enemy, his head tilting down just in time to receive a hammering blast of purple energy to the face that sent him flying against the walls of the station. "W-what the..!?"

"More and more trash continues to appear." The girl murmured quietly, rising from the ground with no help from her arms, levitating on her own, with a burnt cheek and emotionless eyes looking at the group of wizards. She tilted her head to the side and smiled freakishly, her tone chilling the wizards to the bone. "Why cannot we get along and kill each other like good friends?"

"S-something seriously wrong with her…" Gray whispered to himself, sweat falling from his brow, his body shaking in slight fear. It wasn't that the sight was terrifying, even if it was for a normal human, but the oppressive power she was exuding while talking was seriously getting to him.

"D-damn, that hurt…" Natsu groaned, taking one arm from the wall to scratch his sore shoulders with his hand, feeling something moving on his back in between the wall and him and forcing him to drop face-first to the floor. When looking up, he found Happy buried on the stone wall, gasping for breath and thin as a paper sheet. "Oh! Happy! There you are!"

"I-I couldn't… breathe…" The blue feline squeaked out in between pants, his eyes rolling from the intense pain he could feel in his head. The pink-haired man scratched the back of his head apologetically and caught his friend when he detached himself from the wall, murmuring incoherencies to the Dragon Slayer. "N-Natsu… everything's spinning…"

"A-aye, sorry about that…"

"Are you done?" The girl asked them from behind, making Natsu turned around on the spot and look at her in seriousness. She didn't move one inch, except for her head and neck, but she was looking at them. And what's more, and that he didn't like, she was looking at them as if they were simple bugs to her. "I have a tight schedule, please, don't waste my time with soap operas."

"What? And who the hell are you?" The Dragon Slayer asked after placing his boggling friend on the floor. He stood up and glared at the girl, noticing the destruction she caused around the station through the corner of his eyes, spotting the wounds made to his friends and the heavily burnt blue-haired on the blonde's arms.

"So many asked me that today, what makes you think I will answer you?" The girl said with the same creepy smile, earning a threatening growl from the fire-eater. She brought a hand to cover her mouth and chuckled in amusement, looking at the young wizard with glee in her eyes. "Oh, not scared of my magic?"

"You stink that's all I can say." Natsu growled again, getting ready to jump in and attack in less than a second. His flaming fists were testament of that, aside his fierce eyes and impatient posture; he was not going to forgive anyone who dared to harm his friends. "Why did you beat Jonah the other night?"

"I hate his insistence and everything related to him." She shrugged nonchalantly and stepped to the side, letting a slash passed right next to her with the same grace of a feather in the wind. She looked at the red-haired woman who almost cut her shoulder and brought a hand forward, beneath the woman's chest, summoning one of her purple orbs in one second and making it explode. "Such a nuisance."

"A-agh!" Erza cried out in pain as she shot out from the cloud of smoke with her broken armor, falling to the ground and rolling over it until a wall made her stop. The attack itself didn't look like much, but the energy used for it seemed to be of a kind that could directly ignore her defenses and strike to her very core. She looked at the ground through half-lidded eyes and saw the Dragon Slayer lunging to attack the girl himself, dodging her strikes and trying to land his own.

'_I should've been more careful.' _Her eyes went to the blue-haired teen on Lucy's arms, his wrecked and panting form bringing a strange feeling of concern to her that she didn't feel before. _'Now I understand why he told me to avoid those orbs…'_ She groaned and moved her arms to her sides, to raise herself from the ground and help in the fight once more._ '…the blast's power avoided all magic and physical endurance, and struck the body as if it was the same of a newborn's.'_ Though her strength failed, strangely, and she returned to the floor with a sharp thud, her teeth grinding together in powerlessness. It was as if the blast had drained every last bit of her magic. _'I can feel my muscles numbing…! This is not good…!'_

"Hey! Let me kick your ass!" Natsu yelled in annoyance, swinging another fiery kick at the girl, only to see it being avoided with a quick crouch and roll to the side before the girl stood up again, later dodging a fist to her face by just leaning backwards, seeing it pass by harmlessly close to her chin. He growled and jumped high when she dodged another fist, engulfing his leg on fire and using the same element to propel himself down. "Fire Dragon's Claw!"

"My my, I don't think you will hit me like that." The girl giggled in amusement while jumping back from an axe kick to her earlier position, the pink-haired taking a swift turn on his foot and lunging at her again with a fist to her chest that she dodged by merely twisting mid-way. "One hit is a lucky one for you." She grabbed the arm of the guy by the elbow and let the purple magic encircle the wizard's arm, raising her arm after that and throwing the Dragon Slayer against the glazed ceiling of the station with little difficulties. "A second one? Impossible." The purple magic keeping itself attached to the man while she did the same move as with Jonah and flung him around against walls, columns and the floor, too fast for the man to try or even think of a way to free himself. "This is the consequence of your optimism."

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled desperately, leaning forward when the pink-haired was released from the wicked girl's hold and flying towards the train cars, crashing hardly against them and breaking through a large part before stopping with a large, lineal cloud of smoke depicting his trail, her eyes following the whole trek attentively. Her spirits moved on instinct to look and secure the well-being of the young man. "Are you alright, Natsu!?"

"Now that the nuisances have been dealt with," the purple-haired female turned her eyes to the scarlet-haired knight to her right and then to the blue-haired youngster to the front, grinning evilly while lifting both of her hands, showing to have two more spheres at the ready. "Why don't we end this before it gets tedious?"

She channeled her power through the small orbs and the next the last remaining wizards saw was an array of beams shooting high to the ceiling before changing their course and going on a rapid descend towards all of them. The projectiles landing on their targets and causing massive explosions inside the station that only served to raise more dust and smoke to mix with the air. Her laugher could be heard in the midst of the destruction, madly enjoying the dead of the ones who she knew that could stop her plans.

It was short-lived, for when the smoke cleared, her eyes caught sight of some things she did not wish to see, yet at the same time, she was looking forward to, if her still smiling face could say anything. Gray rushed to protect Lucy and the wounded Jonah with a thick wall of ice made in front of him, gasping hardly at how quick he had to move and put up the defense. On the side, Erza was safe behind a barrier of golden light, a man of blue-hair standing defiantly to defend her with his arms extended forward to keep the spell working. His eyes were aimed straight at the girl of purple-hair while Meredy stood behind him with the unconscious Natsu on her shoulder, her eyes also focused on the girl.

"What do we have here? More visitors?" The girl asked sweetly, her undertone sounding acid and spiteful at the sight of the Crime Sorciere mages. She called off her orbs and folded her arms, knowing it was a good time to leave as any. Now that these wizards were here, she wasn't sure she could escape, at least not without earning a few scratches. She laid her gaze on Jellal and sneered. "Time-traveling is very annoying if it means I have to deal with you again."

"J-Jellal…" Erza groaned weakly, using her arms to rest on her side and see her savior standing there with her, protecting her from what could have been a killing blow. She felt her inside aflutter, even if slightly in her condition, at the sight of the man. "W-what are you… doing here…?"

"Rest for now, Erza," Jellal said softly without looking back, keeping his gaze on the girl who destroyed the station and dared to try to kill his beloved. "We'll take care of this." He dispelled the barrier and looked over his shoulder at his partner, noticing the pink-haired man resting on her shoulder. "Meredy, take them to a safe place."

"Aye, right away." Meredy nodded quickly and knelt next to the Titania, working out how to lift two mages and take to safety while the girl in the middle of the station laughed at their actions. She stopped and paid attention to what she was going to say, intuiting a possible follow-up to the failed attack of just a moment ago. _'What's up with her?'_

"No need to try and face me, _Jellal_." The girl yelled amusedly to them, grinning widely when she saw the look of shock on the man's face. How did she know his name? "I'll take my leave now, if you don't mind," she turned around and walked towards the entrance of the station that was used by the trains, hopping from one piece of rubble to the next, pretending to be an innocent little girl. "I don't like one-on-one fights."

"You're not going anywhere!" The blue-haired man bellowed, appearing right in front of the little girl with Meteor enhancing his overall speed and strength, one fist kept back and swung forward to hit the purple-haired while his other hand took a firm grip of her shoulder. This was the killer, not his lookalike. They both had the same feeling in their magic, but this girl's was far more malicious. "You'll answer for your actions!" He brought his fist forward and saw it, wide-eyed, how it went through her head like if she weren't there, hearing her wicked laughter echoing inside the station as the rest of her supposed body disappeared. _'A thought-projection…!?'_

"Answer for my actions? That's neat coming from you." Her voice reverberated through the place, losing volume with each word spoken, signaling her leaving from the area. "Fear not though, we'll see each other again." Her chuckles were heard again. "Take care of little Jonah while I'm away, 'kay?"

And it vanished completely, in both voice and presence, leaving a battered group of mages at the destroyed train station with the question that screamed to be answered in their minds.

Who was she?

**To be continued…?**

* * *

**AN: Sweet. No words right now, I need to rest. Writing fight scenes, especially a full chapter with one, is really taxing on the mind. Not even my sweet... erh... my sour, but precious, coffee can help me with this. A few things though; wait for the next chapter, if you can, many things will be answered there, especially now that the complete set of players has been gathered. *chuckles* It is time, yes indeed, for things to be explained... though, will you like the explanation? *grins* Such a good story.**

**Anyhow, a few reviews for this chapter? Can you do me that little favor?**

**Saludos.**


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